Blackstone Inc. $BX Stake Lowered by FORA Capital LLC

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 19.9%, ending up with 56,398 shares valued at approximately $7.9 million, making it the 19th largest position in their investment portfolio.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.
• Blackstone's stock performance includes a 0.5% decline as it trades at $169.61, while analysts have varied price targets, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target of $170.12.

FORA Capital LLC lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 19.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 56,398 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,988 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 0.8% of FORA Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $739,761,000 after buying an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after purchasing an additional 144,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3%

Blackstone stock traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $171.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $165.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $126.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

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.