Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Position Raised by Partners Group Holding AG

Key Points

• Partners Group Holding AG increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 31.4% during the first quarter, now holding 351,050 shares valued at approximately $49 million.
• Blackstone recently posted earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding expectations, with a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03, marking a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.93, and it currently yields 2.4%.

Partners Group Holding AG grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 31.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 351,050 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 83,921 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises approximately 2.1% of Partners Group Holding AG's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Partners Group Holding AG's holdings in Blackstone were worth $49,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their price target on 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 upped their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.1550 on Tuesday, reaching $167.0650. 4,531,998 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,673,265. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $159.63 and a 200 day moving average of $149.62. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $123.14 billion, a PE ratio of 44.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 2.5%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

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.