Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC has reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 0.7%, now owning 221,337 shares valued at approximately $30.9 million.
• Insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone, resulting in a 6.45% decrease in their ownership, with the proceeds totaling over $8.8 million.
• Blackstone announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, raising its annualized dividend to $4.12 with a yield of 2.4%.

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 221,337 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,570 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $30,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This trade represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The acquisition 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 that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:BX traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $172.10. 2,667,147 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,216,710. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.72. The company has a market capitalization of $126.85 billion, a PE ratio of 46.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. 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. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target 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. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.