Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 1.6%, owning approximately 1,275,282 shares valued at $178.2 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Blackstone reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11, with revenues rising 32.7% year-over-year to $3.07 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, which is an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.5%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,275,282 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 19,803 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.17% of Blackstone worth $178,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of BX stock traded up $6.8030 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $170.2430. 5,187,162 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,648,507. 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 company has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day moving average is $149.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. 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%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 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.