Evercore Wealth Management LLC Acquires 28,573 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Evercore Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,345,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,573 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 2.4% of Evercore Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Evercore Wealth Management LLC owned 0.18% of Blackstone worth $154,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen equities 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.76.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $132.42 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.36. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $98.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 103.80%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.