Accuvest Global Advisors Has $3 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Accuvest Global Advisors reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 7%, holding 21,488 shares valued at around $3 million, making it the firm's 14th largest investment.
• Blackstone reported strong quarterly earnings, beating forecasts with an EPS of $1.21 and revenue of $3.07 billion, marking a 32.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, representing a dividend yield of 2.4% and an annual payout of $4.12.

Accuvest Global Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 7.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,488 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,621 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up 2.6% of Accuvest Global Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Accuvest Global Advisors' holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 26.5% during the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 28,621 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,001,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $517,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Blackstone by 46.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,066,188 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $288,812,000 after buying an additional 655,636 shares in the last quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 97.1% during the first quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC now owns 5,646 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.4% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 213,584 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $29,077,000 after acquiring an additional 4,963 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE BX traded up $1.29 on Friday, reaching $168.93. The company had a trading volume of 2,278,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,909,915. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company's fifty day moving average is $155.60 and its 200-day moving average is $150.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.