Moran Wealth Management LLC Acquires 1,884 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 225,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,884 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 36,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,404,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 9,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Means Investment CO. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 25,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. 63.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, October 6th. StockNews.com started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $118.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.22.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director William G. Parrett sold 3,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.47, for a total transaction of $435,708.78. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,479,934.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director William G. Parrett sold 3,874 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.47, for a total transaction of $435,708.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,479,934.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total transaction of $117,342,731.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,943.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,812,942 shares of company stock worth $128,543,218. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.96. The stock had a trading volume of 2,906,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,930,267. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.72 and a 12 month high of $116.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.58 billion, a PE ratio of 44.10, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $103.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.07). Blackstone had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 140.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 30th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 27th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 134.45%.

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.