Ballast Inc. Buys Shares of 3,158 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Ballast Inc. acquired 3,158 shares of Blackstone Inc. valued at approximately $441,000 during the first quarter, highlighting institutional investment interest in the company.
• Major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. purchased over 1.18 million shares, increasing their ownership by nearly 40% and reaffirming confidence in Blackstone's stock.
• Blackstone announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend and suggesting a strong cash position with a dividend yield of 2.4%.

Ballast Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,158 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $168.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $155.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.04. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.26 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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 a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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