WealthPLAN Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moseley Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the second quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,391,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 23.7% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 439 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of 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 Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $154.58 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $111.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $137.05 and its 200 day moving average is $128.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $155.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend 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.