Blackstone Inc. $BX is Kimelman & Baird LLC's 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• Kimelman & Baird LLC sold 2,764 shares of Blackstone Inc., trimming its stake by 0.9%, leaving it with 317,339 shares, which represent 3.8% of its portfolio.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share from $0.93, resulting in an annualized payout of $4.12 and a dividend yield of 2.4%.
• Analysts have varying ratings on Blackstone, with a consensus target price of $170.12 and 10 analysts recommending a "hold" rating while 9 recommend a "buy".

Kimelman & Baird LLC reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 317,339 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,764 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises approximately 3.8% of Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $44,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 77.2% during the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 617,382 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $84,689,000 after acquiring an additional 268,965 shares during the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 85.9% during the 1st quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 135,474 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $18,937,000 after acquiring an additional 62,601 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,275,282 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $178,245,000 after acquiring an additional 19,803 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 443,964 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $62,057,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.1550 on Tuesday, reaching $167.0650. 4,304,290 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,229,056. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.91, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $159.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.62.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business 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 boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

About Blackstone

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.