GM Advisory Group LLC Has $1.97 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• GM Advisory Group LLC significantly increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 400.8% during Q1, bringing its total holdings to 14,057 shares valued at approximately $1.97 million.
• Blackstone reported Q2 earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding estimates and achieving a 32.7% year-over-year revenue growth to $3.07 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized dividend of $4.12 and a yield of 2.5%.

GM Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 400.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,057 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 11,250 shares during the quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first 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 period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $6.8030 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $170.2430. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,187,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,648,507. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.76. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a PEG 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change 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%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.