Griffin Asset Management Inc. Acquires 16,361 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,361 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises approximately 1.5% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.00.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.2%

Shares of BX opened at $153.88 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $172.53 and its 200 day moving average is $154.28. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.