Ellis Investment Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Ellis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 55,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 1.6% of Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SPC Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 52,843 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,904,000 after acquiring an additional 8,410 shares during the period. Means Investment CO. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 16,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,482,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 86,892 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,006,000 after acquiring an additional 7,304 shares during the period. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 2,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $153.88 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. 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 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.28.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company 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.