Rafferty Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 5.6%, selling 14,410 shares and holding a total of 241,600 shares valued at approximately $33.77 million.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, a rise from its previous dividend of $0.93, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 2.4%.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Blackstone's stock, with a target price averaging around $170.12, and several institutions have significantly increased their holdings in the company.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 241,600 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 14,410 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $33,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 232,594 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $32,512,000 after buying an additional 4,263 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 38,293 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,352,000 after buying an additional 5,787 shares during the period. ICONIQ Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $2,906,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8,457.1% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 214,869 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,034,000 after purchasing an additional 212,358 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $171.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. The business's fifty day moving average is $165.11 and its 200-day moving average is $149.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $126.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. 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. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.