Royal Fund Management LLC Purchases 4,930 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Royal Fund Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,930 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Wellington Altus USA Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. NBH Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 191,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.17 per share, with a total value of $5,016,658.15. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 8,895,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,794,659.26. This represents a 2.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 464,792 shares of company stock valued at $12,205,945 and have sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research reports. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $122.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.40.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone reported third-quarter distributable earnings of $1.32 per share, ahead of the $1.26 consensus estimate. Assets under management reached a record approximately $1.37 trillion, while net inflows exceeded $63 billion. Fee-related earnings increased 6%, supporting confidence in the company’s recurring revenue base. Blackstone Inc. Q3 earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a $1.12-per-share quarterly dividend, payable November 9. The payout, strong fundraising and continued growth in alternative assets helped offset concerns about near-term earnings volatility. Blackstone Q3 readout
• Positive Sentiment: Investors also continue to see potential from Blackstone’s growth initiatives, including an $8.7 billion energy-transition fund close, expansion of its wealth-management channel and potential investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Blackstone energy fund close
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings reaction reflects a distinction between distributable earnings and GAAP results. Blackstone’s reported GAAP EPS was $0.83, while revenue was $3.06 billion, below the $3.27 billion estimate. Blackstone misses Q3 revenue estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability was pressured by difficult markets and higher interest rates. Private-equity asset-sale proceeds fell 49%, weakening realization-related income, and adjusted earnings declined from the prior year. These factors could continue to make results volatile if exits remain limited. Blackstone core businesses hit by rising rates

Blackstone Stock Up 8.0%

Blackstone stock opened at $118.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $165.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This is a decrease from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

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.