Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Cut by D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.

Key Points

• D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 18.3%, now holding 21,385 shares worth approximately $2.99 million.
• Blackstone reported $1.21 EPS for the latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenue increasing 32.7% year-over-year to $3.07 billion.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, representing a yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,385 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,781 shares during the period. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,007 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,243,000 after purchasing an additional 52,659 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 534.2% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 34,901 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,018,000 after purchasing an additional 29,398 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 119,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $20,639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 228,331 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $39,369,000 after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $171.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $126.39 billion, a PE ratio of 46.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $163.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the purchase, the director owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

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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