First Hawaiian Bank Decreases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• First Hawaiian Bank cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 38.6%, reducing its holdings to 2,620 shares valued at $366,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Man Group plc, have increased their stakes in Blackstone during the fourth quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a 2.2% dividend yield.

First Hawaiian Bank cut its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 38.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,620 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,650 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank's holdings in Blackstone were worth $366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its stake in Blackstone by 222.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 41,847 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,215,000 after acquiring an additional 28,850 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $315,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,827,000 after acquiring an additional 11,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $68,403,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased 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. Evercore ISI increased 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 increased 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. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $183.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $135.50 billion, a PE ratio of 49.42, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $170.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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