Summit Financial LLC Acquires 2,726 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 17.6%, acquiring an additional 2,726 shares, bringing its total holdings to 18,248 shares valued at about $2.55 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Blackstone, including a 105.4% lift by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and new investments by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC totaling $63.1 million.
• Blackstone recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, resulting in a new annualized dividend yield of 2.4%.

Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 17.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,248 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,726 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Partners Capital Investment Group LLP bought a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $566,000. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 76.0% during the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 6,823 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $954,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 8,876 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,241,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 41.4% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,854 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 400.8% in the first quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,057 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 11,250 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the acquisition, the director owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded up $1.97 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $171.47. The company had a trading volume of 3,563,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,239,642. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $162.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.41. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $126.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 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.