Hoxton Planning & Management LLC Invests $222,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Hoxton Planning & Management LLC invested approximately $222,000 in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 1,590 shares during the first quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.
• The company's Q2 earnings showed a significant growth with $3.07 billion in revenue, beating estimates and marking a 32.7% year-over-year increase.

Hoxton Planning & Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,590 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after buying an additional 835,170 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 675.6% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 780,738 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $134,615,000 after buying an additional 680,074 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.5%

Blackstone stock traded down $2.63 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $167.87. The stock had a trading volume of 2,766,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,275,740. The stock has a market cap of $122.49 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.43. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on BX shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.