Ascent Group LLC Has $1.74 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 45.6% in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to $1.74 million with 12,410 shares.
• Blackstone reported earnings per share of $1.21 in its latest quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend, with a current dividend yield of 2.4%.

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 45.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,410 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 3,888 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $173.21 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $168.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $127.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.77. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,599,248.37. This trade represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Company 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.

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