DAVENPORT & Co LLC Buys 1,095 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 54,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 30.7% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 48,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,299,000 after purchasing an additional 11,461 shares in the last quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 21.2% during the second quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 52,380 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,835,000 after purchasing an additional 9,150 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 3.8% during the second quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 57,074 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 9,760.0% during the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 493 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $642,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $164.83 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.03. The company has a market cap of $121.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. 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 is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.83.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were 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 quarter, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.