SCS Capital Management LLC Invests $749,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• SCS Capital Management LLC invested approximately $749,000 in Blackstone Inc. during the first quarter, acquiring 5,359 shares.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70% of Blackstone's stock, with several firms increasing their holdings significantly in recent months.
• Blackstone recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from the previous dividend of $0.93, reflecting a positive change in the company's dividend policy.

SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,359 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $749,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 20,641 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $765,000. Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,947 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $821,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $178.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.94 and a 200-day moving average of $150.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.94, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. 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. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.

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