Ransom Advisory Ltd Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Ransom Advisory Ltd has invested approximately $879,000 in Blackstone Inc. by acquiring 6,287 shares, as disclosed in a recent filing with the SEC.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Blackstone during the first quarter, with Vanguard Group now owning over $9.5 billion worth of shares after a 1.6% increase in their position.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93, with a current annualized yield of 2.4%.

Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,287 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 20,641 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,559,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $765,000. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Blackstone by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 2,067 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 14,731 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,540,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was 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 approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $170.29 per share, with a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded down $2.48 on Friday, reaching $181.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,356,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,409,331. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $170.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.59. 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 (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 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.