Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 5,888 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Plato Investment Management Ltd significantly increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 775.8% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 5,888 shares to own a total of 6,647 shares valued at approximately $939,000.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $1.21, surpassing analyst expectations, and the company announced an increased dividend of $1.03 per share.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Blackstone, with nine giving it a Buy rating and a current price target averaging $172.38.

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 775.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,647 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 5,888 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,044 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Sfmg LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,535,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 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. In 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.48 on Friday, reaching $181.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,356,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,392,924. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $170.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 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.