Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 117,724 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Blackstone Inc. by 2.9%, now owning approximately 0.57% of the company, worth about $581.89 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs, have also boosted their holdings in Blackstone, with Vanguard now holding over 67 million shares valued at approximately $9.5 billion.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, indicating a healthy payout ratio of 110.75%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.57% of Blackstone worth $581,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after acquiring an additional 144,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $708,477,000 after acquiring an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $3.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $173.52. 1,738,645 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,228,647. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $156.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.92. The company has a market capitalization of $126.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.