Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc., acquiring 263,789 shares valued at approximately $36.87 million in the first quarter.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings exceeded estimates, reporting $1.21 earnings per share against the expected $1.10, with revenue increasing by 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a 2.5% dividend yield with a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 263,789 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $36,872,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in 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 in the last quarter. 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 valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after acquiring an additional 144,926 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after acquiring an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $708,477,000 after acquiring an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $166.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.94.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.

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