Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,185 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $171.61 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $149.67. The firm has a market cap of $126.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone 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.