Klingman & Associates LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Klingman & Associates LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 15.9% in Q1, holding a total value of approximately $2.12 million at the end of the reporting period.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, marking an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%.
• The asset manager reported earnings per share of $1.21 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with revenue reaching $3.07 billion, a 32.7% year-over-year increase.

Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 15.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,179 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares during the quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. MSH Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,189 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $105,000. Thomas Story & Son LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Thomas Story & Son LLC now owns 26,328 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 373,390 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $52,148,000 after purchasing an additional 19,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 12,604 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $3.07 on Friday, hitting $171.61. 3,681,204 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,651,876. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $159.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.87. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, 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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.