George Kaiser Family Foundation Takes $271,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• The George Kaiser Family Foundation acquired 1,938 shares of Blackstone Inc. valued at approximately $271,000 during the first quarter, as detailed in a recent SEC filing.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs, have increased their stakes in Blackstone, reflecting a growing institutional interest in the company.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, boasting an annual yield of approximately 2.4%.

George Kaiser Family Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,938 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $795,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $12,961,000. Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in Blackstone by 140.8% during the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,961 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 402,948 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $69,476,000 after buying an additional 1,576 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.9550 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $164.3350. 4,876,830 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,248,412. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.11 and a 200 day moving average of $149.74. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.13 billion, a PE ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 1.38 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 2.5%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by 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.