Raiffeisen Bank International AG Purchases 2,210 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 45.6% during the 1st quarter, acquiring an additional 2,210 shares for a total holding valued at $974,000.
• Blackstone reported $1.21 EPS in its latest earnings, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenues increasing by 32.7% year over year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, reflecting a yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 100%.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 45.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,053 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,210 shares during the quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG's holdings in Blackstone were worth $974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after buying an additional 144,926 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $708,477,000 after buying an additional 678,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.0%

Blackstone stock traded up $1.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $169.43. 2,467,232 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,099,879. The company has a market cap of $123.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $153.79 and a 200-day moving average of $150.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BX. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 808,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.