Aberdeen Group plc Buys 268,965 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc significantly increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 77.2% during Q1, owning a total of 617,382 shares valued at approximately $84.7 million.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, reflecting a total annual yield of 2.4%.
• Several institutional investors made noteworthy adjustments to their positions, with Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increasing its stake by 105.4% during the same period.

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 77.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 617,382 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 268,965 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.08% of Blackstone worth $84,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $151,524,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $1.1350 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $163.3350. The company's stock had a trading volume of 859,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,228,916. The company has a market capitalization of $120.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.91, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $160.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.84.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS 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 return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.