Simon Quick Advisors LLC Acquires 253 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 229.6% in the second quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,507 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,266,000 after buying an additional 7,588 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.0% in the second quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $1,419,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $137.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a PE ratio of 48.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $145.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Blackstone 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.