AlphaQuest LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. by acquiring 8,806 shares valued at approximately $1.23 million, as disclosed in a recent SEC filing.
• Major shareholder Blackstone Holdings I. L.P. bought over 1.18 million shares for about $30 million, reflecting a significant increase in their position.
• Equities research analysts have raised their price targets for Blackstone, with Wells Fargo increasing its target from $153 to $167, and Evercore ISI raising it from $165 to $197.

AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,806 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $151,524,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after buying an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 136.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,270,233 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $177,544,000 after buying an additional 734,109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.74. 2,052,774 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,226,227. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a PE ratio of 46.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business's 50 day moving average price is $163.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.56.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

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.