Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC Has $2.22 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $214,000. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $806,000. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $509,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:BX traded down $1.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $170.19. 3,451,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,404,298. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.66. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $166.13.

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.