Perpetual Ltd Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 2,284 shares valued at approximately $342,000 in the second quarter.
• Insider transactions include a significant share sale by John G. Finley, totaling $3.69 million, indicating a 4.52% decrease in his holding.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Blackstone, with JMP Securities setting it at $195.00, while the average target is estimated at $172.38.

Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,284 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:BX opened at $187.99 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $172.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.61. The company has a market capitalization of $138.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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 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%. The company's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Blackstone Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.