Invesco Ltd. Sells 705,913 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 11.8%, selling 705,913 shares during the 1st quarter, leaving them with about 5.28 million shares valued at approximately $738 million.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes, with Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosting its holdings by 105.4% in the same period, showcasing a shift in investments towards Blackstone.
• Blackstone announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, indicating confidence in its revenue growth following a strong earnings report that outperformed analysts' expectations.

Invesco Ltd. cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,281,789 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 705,913 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.72% of Blackstone worth $738,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.8%

BX opened at $168.93 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $123.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $155.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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