Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Gulf International Bank UK Ltd

Key Points

• Gulf International Bank UK Ltd reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 25.2%, selling 14,002 shares and holding 41,576 shares valued at approximately $5.8 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Blackstone during the fourth quarter, with CreativeOne Wealth LLC leading with a 59.6% boost in their holdings.
• Blackstone reported a 32.7% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue and recently raised its dividend to $1.03 per share, reflecting a 2.4% dividend yield.

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 25.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,576 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 14,002 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,415,651 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $197,880,000 after acquiring an additional 70,850 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15.9% during the first quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 15,179 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,189 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, Thomas Story & Son LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.1% during the first quarter. Thomas Story & Son LLC now owns 26,328 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE BX traded down $3.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $171.61. 3,681,204 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,651,876. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $159.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.49 billion, a PE ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 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.