Shikiar Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 23,924 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Shikiar Asset Management Inc. has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 23,924 shares valued at approximately $3,579,000 during the second quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting an annualized payout of $4.12 and a dividend yield of 2.6%.
• Despite reporting a significant earnings beat with $1.21 per share against an expectation of $1.10, Blackstone's stock was down by 1.2% on the latest trading day.

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 23,924 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $3,579,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $599,872,000 after acquiring an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $581,886,000 after buying an additional 117,724 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of BX opened at $160.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $118.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. The company's 50-day moving average price is $172.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.15. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company 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%.Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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