Waverly Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 322.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,039 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $841,783,000 after purchasing an additional 322,860 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $708,859,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $140.80. 1,794,904 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,536,016. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $145.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.10 and a 200 day moving average of $125.19. The stock has a market cap of $100.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.82, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.56.

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.