Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 14,214 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 28.6%, acquiring an additional 14,214 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 63,880 shares valued at approximately $8.93 million.
• Blackstone has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, up from its previous $0.93, with a dividend yield of 2.33% and a payout ratio of 100%.
• After reporting earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding estimates and marking a 32.7% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, Blackstone Inc. has received various analyst ratings, with a consensus rating of "Hold".

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 28.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,880 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 14,214 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $3.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $169.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,058,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,277,204. The firm has a market cap of $123.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.50, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $151.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone 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.