Coordinated Financial Services Inc. CO Invests $683,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Coordinated Financial Services Inc. has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 4,887 shares valued at approximately $683,000 during the first quarter.
• In its latest earnings report, Blackstone beat estimates with an EPS of $1.21 and revenue of $3.07 billion, reflecting a 32.7% year-over-year increase.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, marking an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.93, with a current dividend yield of 2.4%.

Coordinated Financial Services Inc. CO bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,887 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 19.8% in the fourth 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 valued at $708,477,000 after buying an additional 678,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,558,241 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $441,091,000 after acquiring an additional 34,526 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $5.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.34. 4,345,775 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,159,870. The stock has a market cap of $131.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.94, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.05. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. This trade represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone 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.