Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Integrity Alliance LLC.

Key Points

• Integrity Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 351.8% in Q1, now owning shares worth $856,000.
• Blackstone reported earnings of $1.21 per share for its most recent quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.10.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, reflecting a yield of 2.2%.

Integrity Alliance LLC. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 351.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,127 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 4,771 shares during the period. Integrity Alliance LLC.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $181.44. 3,356,111 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,392,924. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $170.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.