Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Natixis Advisors LLC

Key Points

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Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 457,297 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 6,160 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Blackstone worth $63,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,513 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,296,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $20,543,000. Tradewinds LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $447,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 49.8% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 334 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of BX stock traded down $2.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $170.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,662,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,887,348. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $124.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $152.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.68.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

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.