Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC Purchases 18,396 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC has increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 55.2% to a total of 51,740 shares, now valued at approximately $7.23 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Blackstone, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its position by 14,608.6%.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, showcasing a strong financial performance with a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.

Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 55.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,740 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 18,396 shares during the quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% 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 worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $2.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $181.13. 1,098,497 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,154,283. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $169.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.43. 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 results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.