Everstar Asset Management LLC Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Everstar Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by an extraordinary 6,050.5%, purchasing an additional 79,927 shares to total 81,248 shares, now making up 2.1% of its portfolio valued at approximately $11.36 million.
• Wall Street analysts have positive expectations for Blackstone, with several brokerages increasing their price targets, including Evercore ISI raising the target from $165.00 to $197.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03, yielding 2.4%, up from the previous dividend of $0.93, indicating a positive step for investor returns.

Everstar Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 6,050.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,248 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 79,927 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up about 2.1% of Everstar Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Everstar Asset Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $151,524,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 69.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.48 on Friday, hitting $181.44. 3,356,111 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,409,331. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $170.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.53. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.