Amundi Buys 990,947 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Amundi increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 69.3% during the first quarter, owning approximately 2.42 million shares valued at $323 million.
• Insiders have bought a total of 1.19 million shares valued at $30 million in the last 90 days, while they sold 16.85 million shares valued at $131.6 million during the same period.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, representing an increase from its previous $0.93 quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 2.5%.

Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 69.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.33% of Blackstone worth $323,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 69,086 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,657,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. 11 Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $9,425,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 607,700 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $84,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 109,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $15,375,000 after purchasing an additional 14,331 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of BX traded up $3.22 on Monday, reaching $173.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,084,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,165,829. 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 twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $167.56 and a 200-day moving average of $149.78.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the purchase, the director owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.