Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by EFG Asset Management North America Corp.

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,884 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 846.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 74,037 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,349,000 after buying an additional 66,211 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% in the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 31,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,412,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.9% in the first quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 1,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 2,551,515 shares of company stock worth $67,038,327 and have sold 16,884,634 shares worth $138,445,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Citigroup reduced their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:BX opened at $142.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $105.36 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $167.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.18. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

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.