Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,540 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.43.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the purchase, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders bought 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $136.82 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $131.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $102.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

About Blackstone

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.