Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Purchases 14,958 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 47.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,958 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 0.8% of Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hudock Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.3% during the second quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 22,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 205,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,233,000 after buying an additional 3,567 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 5.2% in the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 145,297 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,097,000 after buying an additional 7,246 shares in the last quarter. Bank OZK raised its stake in Blackstone by 11.5% during the second quarter. Bank OZK now owns 22,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 6,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.7%

Blackstone stock opened at $133.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $100.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.95, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $133.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone purchased 272,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.

Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.