Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 371,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,250 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 23.6% of Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $43,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in 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 raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,326,762,000 after acquiring an additional 384,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,275,747,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 10,825,959 shares of company stock valued at $224,789,900. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.9%

Blackstone stock opened at $133.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Blackstone 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.