Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by StrongBox Wealth LLC

Key Points

• StrongBox Wealth LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 7.0%, now holding 21,447 shares worth approximately $3.21 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Blackstone's recent earnings report showed $1.21 earnings per share, beating expectations and highlighting a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, representing an annualized rate of $4.12.

StrongBox Wealth LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 7.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,447 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 1,410 shares during the period. StrongBox Wealth LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st 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 worth $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 19.8% in the 4th 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 worth $708,477,000 after purchasing an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of BX traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $187.99. The stock had a trading volume of 7,403,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,242,008. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The business's fifty day moving average is $172.71 and its 200 day moving average is $151.57. The firm has a market cap of $138.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders 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 2.2%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.