Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 204,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,762 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $23,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1,034.3% during the 4th quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,149,000 after buying an additional 12,711 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 249,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,543,000 after purchasing an additional 19,603 shares in the last quarter. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,856,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.52.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $127.03 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $119.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $94.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.