Graham Capital Management L.P. Purchases New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 40,450 shares valued at approximately $5,654,000 in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. and MAI Capital Management, have also increased their holdings in Blackstone, raising the percentage of stock owned by institutional investors to 70%.
• Blackstone announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03, with an annualized yield of 2.4%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 40,450 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $5,654,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $895,817,000 after purchasing an additional 144,926 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $581,886,000 after acquiring an additional 117,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $708,477,000 after acquiring an additional 678,111 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE BX traded up $2.51 during trading on Thursday, reaching $169.85. 2,547,770 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,178,502. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $166.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.19 billion, a PE ratio of 45.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.