Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Key Points

• Banque Pictet & Cie SA reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 8.9%, owning 36,924 shares valued at approximately $5.5 million after selling 3,619 shares during the second quarter.
• Insider transactions revealed that Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone, while John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares, reflecting a significant reduction in their ownership positions.
• Blackstone declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, up from $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 110.75% as of the most recent report.

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,924 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,619 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during 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. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related 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 transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $175.40 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $174.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.81. 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 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $129.29 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Company 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.

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