Torray Investment Partners LLC Acquires 10,376 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

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Torray Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 44.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,697 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 10,376 shares during the period. Torray Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,817,000 after purchasing an additional 144,926 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $515,577,000 after buying an additional 835,170 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $170.30. 3,974,061 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,286,904. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $152.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $124.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BX shares. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.