Moors & Cabot Inc. Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,967 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $217,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,960,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $708,859,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $154.58 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.53. 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 firm has a market cap of $111.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $155.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. 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. Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.