NorthRock Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $25,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone 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 transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, 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 at this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, 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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $158.13 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $116.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $172.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $154.42.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BX. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on 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 target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.06.

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.