EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Has $4 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• EFG Asset Management North America Corp. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 9.3%, holding 28,630 shares valued at approximately $4 million as of their latest SEC filing.
• Blackstone reported $1.21 earnings per share for the most recent quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue reaching $3.07 billion, a 32.7% increase year-over-year.
• The firm recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, a rise from the previous $0.93, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.5%.

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,630 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,946 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the first quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,044 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $3.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $173.21. 3,084,945 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,165,844. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.78. The company has a market capitalization of $127.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.