Argent Capital Management LLC Has $82.63 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management LLC holds $82.63 million in Blackstone Inc. stock, which represents about 2.4% of its investment portfolio, making it the firm's 14th largest position.
• Blackstone recently reported $3.07 billion in revenue for the quarter, exceeding analyst estimates and showing a 32.7% year-over-year increase, with earnings per share of $1.21.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, with a current yield of 2.2% despite a high dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Argent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 552,405 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 3,195 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 2.4% of Argent Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Blackstone worth $82,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $151,524,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 69.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000,000 after acquiring an additional 990,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $185.77 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $173.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.89. 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 firm has a market cap of $136.93 billion, a PE ratio of 49.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities increased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.