Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Insider Vikrant Sawhney Sells 50,850 Shares

Key Points

• Insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock for a total of $8.83 million, reducing his ownership by 6.45%.
• Blackstone's stock price decreased by 1.8% to $171.61, with a market cap of $126.49 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 from $0.93, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.12 and a dividend yield of 2.4%.

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of BX traded down $2.9550 on Wednesday, reaching $164.3350. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,876,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,773,657. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.13 billion, a PE ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $160.57 and a 200-day moving average of $149.84.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

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.