Blackstone Inc. $BX Stake Boosted by Tranquility Partners LLC

Tranquility Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,424 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 4.3% of Tranquility Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Tranquility Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $153.88 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Blackstone Company 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.