Teza Capital Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Teza Capital Management LLC has acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 3,163 shares valued at approximately $442,000 during the first quarter.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.12, which reflects a yield of 2.4%.
• Several hedge funds significantly boosted their positions in Blackstone, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holdings by 14,608.6% in the same quarter.

Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,163 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3%

BX stock traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $181.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,356,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,409,331. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.53. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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.