Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 41.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,893 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the period. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:BX traded down $1.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $132.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,811,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,516,411. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.55. 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 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $145.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were paid 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 2.47%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 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.