Naples Global Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to 44,000 shares valued at approximately $6.58 million.
• Several other institutional investors have also made significant increases to their holdings in Blackstone, with Kingstone Capital Partners boosting its stake by an astonishing 519,669.1%.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, marking an increase from its previous dividend and reflecting a current annualized yield of 2.4%.

Naples Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,490,411,000 after acquiring an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the first 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the first 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. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $599,872,000 after acquiring an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after acquiring an additional 117,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, 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 directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $168.22 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month 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 market cap of $124.00 billion, a PE ratio of 45.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $174.23 and a 200 day moving average of $153.48.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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