Strs Ohio Invests $27.21 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 194,683 shares worth approximately $27.21 million during the first quarter of the year.
• Blackstone's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $1.21, surpassing the expected $1.10, and a significant 32.7% year-over-year revenue growth to $3.07 billion.
• The firm has announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03, an increase from the previous $0.93, supporting a healthy annualized dividend yield of 2.2%.

Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 194,683 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $27,213,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded down $2.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $181.44. The stock had a trading volume of 3,356,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,392,924. 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 50 day simple moving average of $170.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.53. The firm has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.