Renaissance Investment Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Renaissance Investment Group LLC has reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 16.9%, selling 1,542 shares and retaining 7,580 shares valued at $1,060,000.
• Blackstone recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, reflecting a 2.33% yield.
• Research firms have raised their target prices for Blackstone, with JMP Securities increasing it from $180 to $195, indicating a positive outlook for the company.

Renaissance Investment Group LLC lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 16.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,580 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,542 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after acquiring an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of BX traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $177.00. 2,750,131 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,887,971. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.38 and a 200-day moving average of $150.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.15 billion, a PE ratio of 47.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.