Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $117.44 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, holding approximately $117.44 million worth of stock.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, a notable increase from the previous $0.93, reflecting the company's growth with a revenue rise of 32.7% year-over-year.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Blackstone, with many maintaining a "buy" stance and a consensus target price of approximately $170.12.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 840,177 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 59,439 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Blackstone worth $117,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:BX opened at $176.58 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $157.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.27. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $130.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 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 dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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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