IFM Investors Pty Ltd Increases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 7.6% during the second quarter, acquiring an additional 9,715 shares, bringing their total holdings to 137,835 shares valued at approximately $20.6 million.
• Blackstone reported a significant 32.7% year-over-year revenue growth for the quarter, with earnings per share of $1.21 exceeding analysts' expectations.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.93, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.2%.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 137,835 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 9,715 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities upped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $187.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,403,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,242,008. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $138.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $172.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.