Synovus Financial Corp Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 17.8% during Q1, now holding 38,293 shares valued at approximately $5.35 million.
• Blackstone recently reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking a 32.7% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Blackstone announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, with a dividend yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,293 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 5,787 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,576 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,996,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,151,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.3%

Blackstone stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Thursday, reaching $172.10. 2,667,225 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,216,722. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $163.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.72. The company has a market capitalization of $126.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.26, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.