Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Increases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC has boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. by 41.4%, holding 6,854 shares valued at approximately $958,000 after adding 2,006 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Recent transactions involving company insiders included Joseph Baratta selling 100,000 shares for $16.7 million, reflecting an 11% decrease in his position, while Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares.
• Blackstone has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized dividend of $4.12 and a yield of 2.5%, despite a high payout ratio of 110.75%.

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 41.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,854 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 4.2%

NYSE BX traded up $6.8030 on Friday, reaching $170.2430. The company had a trading volume of 5,187,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,728,099. The company's fifty day moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day moving average is $149.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.