Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

Key Points

• UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 10.5% during the first quarter, owning a total of 49,309 shares valued at $6.89 million.
• Analysts are optimistic about Blackstone's stock, with several brokerages raising their price targets, including Deutsche Bank which increased it to $192 and JMP Securities to $195.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, a notable increase from the previous $0.93 dividend, reflecting a strong financial performance with revenue up 32.7% year-over-year.

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 10.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,309 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 4,677 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $151,524,000. Amundi boosted its position in Blackstone by 69.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000,000 after acquiring an additional 990,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.48 on Friday, reaching $181.44. The company had a trading volume of 3,356,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,409,331. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $170.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.53. The firm has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.77, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

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.