Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Prescott Group Capital Management has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 1,938 shares valued at approximately $271,000.
• Blackstone reported a 32.7% increase in revenue year-over-year for the last quarter, beating analysts' expectations with $3.07 billion in revenue.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03, raising the annualized dividend to $4.12 and reflecting a 2.32% dividend yield.

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,938 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,513 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,296,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $537,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of BX traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $177.15. 947,516 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,292,068. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $149.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.43. The company has a market cap of $129.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.