Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes $914,000 Position 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) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,537 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $914,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $20,543,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 49.8% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 334 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 45,709 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,881,000 after purchasing an additional 13,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $587,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. 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 report on Friday, July 25th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup reissued 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5%

BX stock traded down $2.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $170.42. The company had a trading volume of 3,662,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,887,348. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $124.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $152.55 and a 200 day moving average of $150.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

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.