49,947 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 49,947 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,877,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,667,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $1,340,000. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 92.2% in the 1st 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 owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,233.72. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone purchased 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

BX opened at $143.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

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.