Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD Takes $12.24 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD has acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) worth approximately $12.24 million, purchasing 87,585 shares during the first quarter.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, with Blackstone reporting $1.21 EPS against an estimated $1.10 and revenue of $3.07 billion, up 32.7% year-over-year.
• Blackstone announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, representing a new annualized dividend of $4.12, with a dividend yield of 2.32%.

Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 87,585 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $12,236,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $168.71.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $177.96 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $149.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.68. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $129.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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