Cross Staff Investments Inc Buys 171 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Cross Staff Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up about 4.0% of Cross Staff Investments Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Cross Staff Investments Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $153.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day moving average of $172.53 and a 200-day moving average of $154.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Blackstone 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.