Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 5,825 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,825 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $14,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 19.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 102,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,727,000 after acquiring an additional 16,400 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 228,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 55.0% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,843 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the period. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.0% during the second quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,694 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,076,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 78,109 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,670,000 after buying an additional 36,445 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.8 %

BX stock opened at $151.88 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $141.92 and a 200-day moving average of $130.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $108.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.67, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $161.25.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.90%.

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.