Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Acquires 901 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 901 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 27,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,624,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,184,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 56,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,408,000 after purchasing an additional 6,233 shares during the period. Finally, Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $138.29 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $98.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $133.95 and a 200-day moving average of $127.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted 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. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

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.