Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 5,223 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 193,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,223 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $33,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 259.8% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 22,160 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,315,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 384,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. This represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.25.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $163.67 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $151.03 and its 200 day moving average is $161.32. The firm has a market cap of $120.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

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.