Principle Wealth Partners LLC Invests $2.86 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Principle Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 24,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,862,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 92.2% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $92,817,000 after acquiring an additional 387,109 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $4,066,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at $117,883,632.95. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.1%

BX stock opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. 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 of $127.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $105.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen equities 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

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.