Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mattern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $153.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $113.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $172.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.17.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders 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 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.