Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc.

Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,407 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the quarter. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $160.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.32 billion, a PE ratio of 43.15, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.