Blackstone Inc. $BX Stake Lifted by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, owning 761,643 shares valued at approximately $106 million, making it the 7th largest position in their portfolio.
• Blackstone recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.21, surpassing analysts' estimates, with total revenue of $3.07 billion, a 32.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, raising its annual dividend to $4.12, resulting in a current dividend yield of 2.3% despite a high payout ratio of 110.75%.

Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 761,643 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 13,629 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 1.6% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned 0.10% of Blackstone worth $106,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $178.34 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $168.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $131.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.

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