Norinchukin Bank The Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Norinchukin Bank increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 16.6%, holding 38,080 shares valued at approximately $5.32 million at the end of the latest quarter.
• Blackstone recently reported earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $3.07 billion, up 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 from $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Norinchukin Bank The lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 16.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,080 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 5,408 shares during the period. Norinchukin Bank The's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 17.6% in the first quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 18,248 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,551,000 after acquiring an additional 2,726 shares during the period. Partners Capital Investment Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $566,000. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 76.0% in the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 6,823 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 35.1% in the first quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 8,876 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 41.4% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,854 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 2,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $6.8030 during trading on Friday, hitting $170.2430. The company had a trading volume of 5,187,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,728,099. The stock has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Piper Sandler increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm'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. In the last three months, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.