Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Cuts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd has significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 66.9%, now owning 5,854 shares valued at approximately $818,000 after selling 11,809 shares in the first quarter.
• Blackstone recently reported impressive quarterly earnings, with $1.21 earnings per share exceeding analyst expectations of $1.10, and a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.
• The firm has announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a payout ratio of 100% and an annualized yield of 2.35%.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 66.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,854 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 11,809 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after acquiring an additional 144,926 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 19.8% during the fourth 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 worth $708,477,000 after acquiring an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after acquiring an additional 835,170 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $170.42. 3,662,374 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,887,348. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $124.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $152.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.85.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

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.