Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Invests $262,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. by purchasing 1,750 shares valued at approximately $262,000 in the second quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized payout of $4.12 with a yield of 2.3%.
• The company's stock received various upgrades from analysts, with consensus ratings indicating a "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $172.71.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,750 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management raised its position in Blackstone by 34.3% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after acquiring an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 14.5% in the first quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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 raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.71.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $175.99 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.26. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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