United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $10.56 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 89,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $10,557,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,112,162,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after buying an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,364,373,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone purchased 272,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.62 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $130.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.78. The stock has a market cap of $107.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.44%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.