Operose Advisors LLC lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 49.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,470 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,445 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $151,524,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during 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 buying an additional 742,829 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.
Blackstone Trading Up 0.8%
Shares of BX opened at $168.93 on Monday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $155.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.04. The company has a market capitalization of $123.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.
View Our Latest Report on Blackstone
Blackstone Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

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