Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Has $134.48 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Swiss Life Asset Management increased its Blackstone stake by 47.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 872,480 shares worth about $134.5 million.
• Blackstone reported Q1 earnings of $1.36 per share, topping estimates, while revenue came in slightly below forecasts at $3.43 billion. Revenue still rose 10% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share, equal to a 3.8% annualized yield, even though its payout ratio is elevated at 118.67%.

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 47.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 872,480 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 279,812 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for 0.7% of Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.12% of Blackstone worth $134,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,103,660 shares of company stock worth $45,982,920 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $143.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $150.95.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $123.64 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $91.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company's 50-day moving average price is $116.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.17.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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