Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Mizuho Securities USA LLC

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 14.4%, selling 9,825 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 58,605 shares valued at approximately $8.19 million.
• Blackstone recently reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.10, with a significant 32.7% year-over-year revenue growth to $3.07 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%, with a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 14.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,605 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 9,825 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 136.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,270,233 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $177,544,000 after acquiring an additional 734,109 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the business'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 transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business'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 value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on BX. JMP Securities raised their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" 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 an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7%

BX traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $170.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,609,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,825,000. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.74, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $156.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.92.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

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.