Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 901 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. 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 report on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $138.29 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $133.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a PE ratio of 48.86, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 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.