Meyer Handelman Co. Trims Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Meyer Handelman Co. reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 73,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 660 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $175.86 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $173.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.38.

About Blackstone

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.