Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 175.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,891 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,115 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the second 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. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 target price on shares of Blackstone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:BX opened at $144.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $106.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.76.

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. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 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 $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’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 value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders acquired 2,565,141 shares of company stock worth $68,991,351 and sold 185,350 shares worth $32,368,954. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.