The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 22.2%, selling 184,864 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 648,527 shares valued at approximately $90.7 million.
• Blackstone reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.21, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year, reaching $3.07 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, which represents an increase from the previous dividend, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 22.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 648,527 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 184,864 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.09% of Blackstone worth $90,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $2.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $167.14. 2,442,442 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,182,702. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $123.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.82.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities increased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

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.