Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Kercheville Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Kercheville Advisors increased its Blackstone stake by 37.7% in the third quarter, acquiring 10,350 additional shares for a total holding of 37,810 shares worth approximately $4.24 million. Institutional investors collectively own 70% of BX.
• Blackstone reported quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share, beating estimates of $1.34, while revenue rose 35.9% year over year to $5.04 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.29, equating to a 4.8% annualized yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.45, despite recent target reductions from some analysts.

Kercheville Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,810 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 10,350 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 1.2% of Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $221,478,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $8,667,000. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.1% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 245,370 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,873,000 after purchasing an additional 11,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $92,817,000 after purchasing an additional 387,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $107.11. 4,029,420 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,072,695. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $165.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 573,614 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This trade represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,038,406 shares of company stock valued at $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Argus increased their price objective on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $143.45.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.

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