Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 7,692 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Blackstone worth $53,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the first 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 during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $841,783,000 after acquiring an additional 322,860 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $708,859,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after buying an additional 21,450 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $1.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $135.03. 643,624 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,519,906. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $128.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.23. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’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 value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.