Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 12.5%, owning 12,370 shares valued at approximately $1,850,000 after an additional purchase during the 2nd quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Tidal Investments LLC and Brighton Jones LLC, also boosted their positions in Blackstone during the fourth quarter, reflecting strong interest in the company.
• Equities analysts have raised their price targets for Blackstone, with Evercore ISI increasing its target from $165 to $197, indicating positive market expectations for the asset manager's performance.

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,370 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,996 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,827,000 after purchasing an additional 11,202 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $7,476,000. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 27,708 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,777,000 after acquiring an additional 5,204 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $3,809,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $187.99. The stock had a trading volume of 7,403,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,242,008. The firm has a market cap of $138.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.57. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company'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 fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate 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.