Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 85.9% in the 1st quarter, now holding 135,474 shares valued at approximately $18.9 million.
• Blackstone reported a 32.7% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share of $1.21, surpassing estimates by $0.11.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend and resulting in a 2.4% yield.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 85.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 135,474 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 62,601 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Blackstone were worth $18,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5%

BX traded down $2.49 on Monday, reaching $169.13. 3,974,549 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,629,688. The company's 50 day moving average is $159.05 and its 200-day moving average is $149.67. The company has a market cap of $124.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.47, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, 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 insiders.

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.