Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 1.6%, now holding 92,288 shares valued at approximately $12.9 million, according to its recent SEC filing.
• In recent insider activity, a significant transaction saw major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. acquire over 1.1 million shares of Blackstone while insiders have sold a total of over 16.8 million shares in the last three months.
• Blackstone recently reported quarterly earnings with an EPS of $1.21, exceeding estimates, and announced a dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03 per share.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,288 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,464 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating 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 stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of BX opened at $171.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.87. The firm has a market cap of $126.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 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.

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