Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 0.5%, now holding approximately 1.35 million shares valued at about $188 million.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings showed a net revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year, with an EPS of $1.21, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• The firm has announced a dividend increase, now set at $1.03 per share, representing a 2.4% yield, up from the prior quarterly dividend of $0.93.

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,345,919 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,516 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.18% of Blackstone worth $188,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $170.42 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $152.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.68. The company has a market capitalization of $124.35 billion, a PE ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

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.

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