Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Truvestments Capital LLC

Key Points

• Truvestments Capital LLC has significantly increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 240.9% during the first quarter, now holding a total of 8,829 shares valued at approximately $1.23 million.
• Blackstone has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a strong annualized yield of 2.4% despite a high payout ratio of 110.75%.
• The asset manager reported a 32.7% year-over-year revenue increase, achieving $3.07 billion for the quarter and exceeding analyst expectations with earnings per share of $1.21.

Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 240.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,829 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 6,239 shares during the quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $35,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

BX traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $171.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $126.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $165.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.