2,500 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by Corient IA LLC

Key Points

• Corient IA LLC made a new investment of $349,000 in Blackstone Inc. by acquiring 2,500 shares during the first quarter.
• Significant investments from other institutional investors were noted, including Capital Research Global Investors' $239.8 million stake and GAMMA Investing LLC's 14,608.6% increase in ownership during the same period.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, reflecting a positive change in its dividend policy.

Corient IA LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,500 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities boosted their target price 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. 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 report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded up $6.8030 during trading on Friday, hitting $170.2430. 5,176,702 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,246,533. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day moving average is $161.02 and its 200 day moving average is $149.77.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.