Swedbank AB Purchases Shares of 126,723 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Swedbank AB acquired 126,723 shares of Blackstone Inc. valued at approximately $17.7 million, indicating increasing institutional interest in the asset management firm.
• Blackstone recently reported earnings of $1.21 EPS for the quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $3.07 billion, representing a year-over-year growth of 32.7%.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend and a current yield of 2.3%.

Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 126,723 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $17,713,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position 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 worth $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $581,886,000 after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $708,477,000 after purchasing an additional 678,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of 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 shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3%

BX stock opened at $181.44 on Monday. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $170.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased 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 directly owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate 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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