Abbot Financial Management Inc. Acquires 118 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Abbot Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,333 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 1.7% of Abbot Financial Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Abbot Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $708,859,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after buying an additional 21,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.78.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:BX opened at $154.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $155.18. The company has a market capitalization of $111.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

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.