Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Trimmed by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Key Points

• Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB has reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 2.5% in the first quarter, now holding 232,298 shares valued at approximately $32.5 million.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings report exceeded expectations, posting a net revenue of $3.07 billion and achieving earnings per share of $1.21.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 232,298 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,898 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's holdings in Blackstone were worth $32,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $151,524,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Blackstone by 136.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,270,233 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $177,544,000 after acquiring an additional 734,109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.44 on Friday, hitting $171.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $165.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71.

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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BX. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Company 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.