Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases 12,426 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 33.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,947 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 12,426 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $6,112,162,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after buying an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $1,364,373,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $1,275,747,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $4,066,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 869,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,883,632.95. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $143.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $107.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.06 and its 200 day moving average is $122.93. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.