Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Koss Olinger Consulting LLC has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 2,230 shares valued at approximately $312,000 in the first quarter.
• Blackstone reported Q2 earnings of $1.21 per share, beating estimates, with revenue of $3.07 billion, a 32.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,230 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.8%

BX stock opened at $168.93 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month 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. The stock's 50 day moving average is $155.60 and its 200-day moving average is $150.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.26 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" 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.

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