Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 4,322 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 298,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,322 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Moseley Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 439 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the second quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $142.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.90. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16. The company has a market capitalization of $102.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

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.