Westover Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 4,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $708,859,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $290,514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 19,048.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after buying an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $151.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $108.85 billion, a PE ratio of 53.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $151.87.

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 return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.90%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related 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 transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.