Ignite Planners LLC Sells 1,570 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Ignite Planners LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 53.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,570 shares during the quarter. Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.2%

BX stock opened at $160.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.15.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

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.