Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock: Yarbrough Capital LLC Decreases Holdings

Yarbrough Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 73,775 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 20,480 shares during the quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Altus USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. NBH Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 26,600.0% in the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $122.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.45.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $107.11. 4,029,420 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,072,695. The company has a market cap of $80.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $165.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $127.52 and a 200 day moving average of $124.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $2,043,440.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,038,406 shares of company stock worth $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares worth $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.