Wealthfront Advisers LLC Takes $9.88 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 84,008 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $9,885,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $145.15 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $127.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.43. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.95 billion, a PE ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 371 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $137.17 per share, for a total transaction of $50,890.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at $5,787,065.13. This represents a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone 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.