Cetera Advisors LLC Has $11.04 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 148.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,244 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Blackstone by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after acquiring an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,649,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.56.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $3.98 on Friday, hitting $133.05. 4,695,832 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,029,145. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $127.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.64. The company has a market capitalization of $95.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

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.