Invst LLC Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Invst LLC made a significant investment in Blackstone Inc., acquiring 6,376 shares valued at approximately $891,000 during the first quarter.
• Blackstone reported earnings per share of $1.21 for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate, and its revenue increased by 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03, marking an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.93, with a current yield of 2.3%.

Invst LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,376 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $891,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,035 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,822,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $27,213,000. Intrua Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 4,871 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.8% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $183.77. 2,924,317 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,153,367. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.40, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business's 50-day moving average is $170.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

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.