Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Key Points

• Public Sector Pension Investment Board has reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 30.7%, selling 86,628 shares and leaving them with 195,689 shares valued at approximately $27.35 million.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.4%, which is an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.93.
• Blackstone reported a 32.7% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $3.07 billion, along with an EPS of $1.21, surpassing analyst expectations.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 30.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 195,689 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 86,628 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Blackstone were worth $27,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Blackstone by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 40,561 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,670,000 after buying an additional 4,332 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $861,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 35.8% during the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 2,740 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $441,000. Finally, SouthState Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 206.6% during the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 126,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $17,733,000 after buying an additional 85,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten 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.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE BX traded down $3.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.61. The company had a trading volume of 3,196,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,232,527. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $126.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.71. The company's fifty day moving average is $158.42 and its 200-day moving average is $150.21.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction 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 approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.