Prudential PLC Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Prudential PLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 17.9% in Q1, bringing its total holdings to $1.76 million worth of shares.
• Blackstone announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.93, with an annual yield of 2.4%.
• The company's stock was down 1.1%, with a recent market cap of $128.81 billion and a PE ratio of 46.98.

Prudential PLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 17.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,604 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $151,524,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $739,761,000 after buying an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3%

BX traded down $2.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $169.37. 2,023,563 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,226,128. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $159.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.84 billion, a PE ratio of 45.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors 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 yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

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.