Invesco Ltd. Sells 1,591,057 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Invesco Ltd. lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 30.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,690,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,591,057 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.51% of Blackstone worth $552,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.8% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 102,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,372,000 after buying an additional 5,588 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.7% during the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 24,139 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,129 shares in the last quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,881 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 7,313 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 5.8% in the second quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 51,729 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,738,000 after buying an additional 2,822 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $151.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $111.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.23, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $152.51 and its 200 day moving average is $157.95. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $194.00.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James Breyer acquired 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.00.

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.