Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Holdings Increased by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 799,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,906 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 1.6% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Blackstone worth $119,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $139.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $102.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $163.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.54.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. This represents a 0.84% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired a total of 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. HSBC lowered their price target on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price objective on Blackstone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

Blackstone 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.