20,792 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC

Key Points

• Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC has invested approximately $2.91 million in Blackstone Inc., acquiring 20,792 shares in the first quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced a dividend increase to $1.03 per share, marking a positive change from the previous $0.93 and reflecting a dividend yield of 2.4%.
• Analysts have raised Blackstone's price targets, with Evercore ISI increasing it from $165.00 to $197.00, indicating a strong consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 20,792 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,906,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 8,457.1% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 214,869 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,034,000 after acquiring an additional 212,358 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Blackstone by 5.4% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 129,545 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,108,000 after buying an additional 6,604 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 8,525 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 19.9% in the first quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 14,237 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $1,231,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:BX traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.74. The company had a trading volume of 2,052,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,774,692. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.17, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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. 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%.The firm's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities 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 a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's 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.