ARS Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,648 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• ARS Investment Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 1.6% in the first quarter, maintaining approximately 1.4% of its portfolio in the company.
• Blackstone declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, an increase from the previous $0.93, reflecting a positive change in its dividend policy.
• Institutional ownership of Blackstone is significant, with 70.00% of the company's stock held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ARS Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98,773 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,648 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 1.4% of ARS Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. ARS Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $6.8030 on Friday, hitting $170.2430. 5,187,162 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,648,507. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.76. 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 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone'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 year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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. 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. 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 research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

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.