Simplicity Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 9,065 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $108.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

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.