Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Focus Partners Wealth

Key Points

• Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 128.3%, acquiring a total of 207,256 shares worth approximately $28.97 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Analysts are generally optimistic about Blackstone, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $172.38, while some brokerage firms have set higher price targets.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, increasing from the previous $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.2%.

Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 128.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 207,256 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 116,464 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $581,886,000 after buying an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $708,477,000 after buying an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $183.91 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $169.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 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.

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