OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Invests $271,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Oversea Chinese Banking Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Blackstone, purchasing 1,939 shares valued at approximately $271,000 during the 1st quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, with a dividend yield of 2.4%.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates and marking a 32.7% revenue increase compared to the prior year.

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,939 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.80 on Tuesday, hitting $167.70. The company had a trading volume of 4,761,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,063,633. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $122.36 billion, a PE ratio of 45.08, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Profile

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.