D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 160,582 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 2.8% in the second quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.0% in the second quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $980,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, McAdam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7%

BX opened at $161.63 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.77. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $171.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.27.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.68.

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.