Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Invests $914,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 6,537 shares valued at approximately $914,000.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, with a yield of 2.4%, up from the previous dividend of $0.93.
• The company reported a 32.7% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, totaling $3.07 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,537 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $914,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Blackstone by 723.0% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 31,834 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,450,000 after purchasing an additional 27,966 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 239.4% in the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 39,698 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,549,000 after acquiring an additional 28,000 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% in the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,292 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 118.1% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 410 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 19,237 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.6%

BX stock traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $167.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,766,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,275,740. The firm has a market cap of $122.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $153.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

About Blackstone

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.