Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 8.6%, now holding 224,081 shares valued at approximately $31.26 million.
• Major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone significantly boosted their ownership by acquiring over 1.18 million shares at a cost of about $30 million, raising their total shares to approximately 4.18 million.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.4%, up from the previous dividend of $0.93.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 224,081 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 17,712 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $31,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Callan Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 275.8% in the 1st quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 38,932 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,442,000 after buying an additional 28,573 shares during the last quarter. Bulltick Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $1,690,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $75,000. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Blackstone by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 40,561 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,670,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $861,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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 Trading Down 1.8%

BX traded down $3.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.61. 3,681,204 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,651,876. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $159.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.12. The firm has a market cap of $126.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Blackstone Company 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.