7,562 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Purchased by Haverford Trust Co

Haverford Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,562 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $890,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,954,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $49,752,000. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $1,195,000. Welch Capital Partners LLC NY purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $19,585,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $821,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $143.56 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $107.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $128.82 and a 200 day moving average of $122.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.