Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Key Points

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Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 347,093 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 44,800 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP's holdings in Blackstone were worth $48,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,961,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Blackstone by 146.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 327,848 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $56,528,000 after acquiring an additional 194,634 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Blackstone by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,255,479 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $216,472,000 after acquiring an additional 4,513 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis grew its position in Blackstone by 111.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 53,310 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,192,000 after acquiring an additional 28,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $6.8030 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $170.2430. The company had a trading volume of 5,187,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,648,507. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.71. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $161.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

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.