Sanctuary Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,762 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $23,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after buying an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders acquired 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.52.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:BX opened at $127.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $94.37 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.58. The business’s 50 day moving average is $119.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

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.