Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC Takes $210,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,371 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,017 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.3% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 6,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 616.9% during the first quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,927 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,800,000 after purchasing an additional 24,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:BX traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $171.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,039,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,440,822. 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 capitalization of $122.70 billion, a PE ratio of 60.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $147.01 and a 200-day moving average of $133.31. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $175.94.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 121.55%.

About Blackstone

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.