APG Asset Management N.V. Has $50.71 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• APG Asset Management N.V. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by selling 2,000 shares, bringing its total holdings to 391,900 shares, valued at approximately $50.7 million.
• Brokerages have raised their price targets for Blackstone, with JMP Securities setting a target of $195.00 and Evercore ISI at $197.00, indicating strong analyst support for the stock.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, reflecting an increase from its previous dividend and suggesting a strong commitment to shareholder returns.

APG Asset Management N.V. decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 391,900 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned 0.05% of Blackstone worth $50,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 129,545 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,108,000 after acquiring an additional 6,604 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 8,525 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 19.9% during the first quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 14,237 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,990,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $1,231,000. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 36.0% in the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 29,055 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,061,000 after buying an additional 7,691 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $172.10. 2,530,178 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,210,532. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.85 billion, a PE ratio of 46.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The business's 50-day moving average price is $163.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.