Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Infrastructure Capital Advisors initiated a Blackstone position by purchasing 15,567 shares valued at approximately $1.83 million. Institutional investors collectively own about 70% of Blackstone’s outstanding stock.
• Blackstone exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.52 in EPS versus the $1.34 consensus and $5.04 billion in revenue, up 35.9% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $147.95.
• Blackstone increased its quarterly dividend to $1.29 per share, equivalent to a $5.16 annualized payout and a 3.6% yield. Recent insider activity was mixed, with significant purchases alongside insider sales.

Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,567 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,832,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $15,561,000 after buying an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Blackstone by 92.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $92,817,000 after buying an additional 387,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 573,614 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $15,000,006.10. Following the transaction, the insider owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This trade represents a 7.28% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $143.56 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $128.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.44.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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