Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 76,550 shares valued at approximately $11.45 million, making it the firm's 11th largest holding.
• Notable hedge fund activity includes Kingstone Capital Partners drastically increasing their stake by 519,669.1%, now holding over $10 billion worth of Blackstone shares.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, equating to an annualized yield of 2.5% despite a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 76,550 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $11,450,000. Blackstone comprises about 1.3% of Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $10,490,411,000 after acquiring an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during 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 buying an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BX stock opened at $161.63 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's 50 day moving average is $171.23 and its 200 day moving average is $155.27.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business 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 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 yield of 2.5%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.68.

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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