Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $146.00 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $107.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $157.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,565,141 shares of company stock valued at $68,991,351 and have sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

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.