SVB Wealth LLC Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• SVB Wealth LLC significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 94% in the first quarter, owning 8,901 shares valued at approximately $1.24 million after selling 139,450 shares.
• Blackstone reported strong quarterly earnings, with $1.21 EPS exceeding estimates, and a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year, totaling $3.07 billion.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized payout of $4.12 and a dividend yield of 2.4%.

SVB Wealth LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 94.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,901 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 139,450 shares during the quarter. SVB Wealth LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.46 during trading on Thursday, hitting $172.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,665,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,216,669. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $126.85 billion, a PE ratio of 46.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $163.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.