Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Gabelli Funds LLC

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC has increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 4.3%, now holding 175,256 shares valued at approximately $24.5 million, following a purchase of 7,200 shares in the first quarter.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings report showed earnings per share of $1.21, surpassing estimates, with revenues rising by 32.7% year-over-year to $3.07 billion.
• The company has announced an increase in its dividend to $1.03 per share, reflecting a 2.4% yield, up from its previous dividend of $0.93.

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,256 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.44 on Friday, hitting $171.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. The company has a market capitalization of $126.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

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.