Guggenheim Capital LLC Has $25.53 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Guggenheim Capital LLC has reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 3.8%, now holding 182,610 shares worth approximately $25.53 million.
• Blackstone recently reported earnings of $1.21 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate, with revenue jumping 32.7% year-over-year to $3.07 billion.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, representing a 2.4% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Guggenheim Capital LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 182,610 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 7,303 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $25,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% during the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of BX stock opened at $171.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $126.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.56. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share 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 is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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