Northern Trust Corp Has $958.21 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

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Northern Trust Corp lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,855,138 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 160,908 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.94% of Blackstone worth $958,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $12,961,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 146.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 327,848 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $56,528,000 after purchasing an additional 194,634 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,255,479 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $216,472,000 after acquiring an additional 4,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its holdings in Blackstone by 111.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 53,310 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,192,000 after acquiring an additional 28,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock traded up $6.8030 on Friday, hitting $170.2430. 5,187,162 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,252,850. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company's fifty day moving average is $161.02 and its 200 day moving average is $149.77. The company has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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