Covenant Asset Management LLC Buys 764 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Covenant Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Bridge Advisors boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 17,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 8,666 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $240,000. Old North State Trust LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.3% in the first quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 5,966 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $202,000. Institutional investors own 63.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director William G. Parrett sold 3,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.47, for a total value of $435,708.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,479,934.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total transaction of $117,342,731.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,943.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William G. Parrett sold 3,874 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.47, for a total value of $435,708.78. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,479,934.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,402,086 shares of company stock valued at $198,963,771 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $114.35. The stock had a trading volume of 798,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,163,542. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.72 and a 12-month high of $115.22. The stock has a market cap of $81.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The asset manager reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Blackstone had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 347.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 31st were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 191.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Blackstone from $104.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Friday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.97.

Blackstone Company 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.