USS Investment Management Ltd Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd has reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 33.7%, selling 59,800 shares to hold 117,672 shares valued at $16.45 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Blackstone reported $3.07 billion in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with a 20.47% return on equity and a net margin of 20.83%.
• The company has recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, indicating a 2.4% dividend yield.

USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 33.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,672 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 59,800 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP grew its holdings in Blackstone by 128.9% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 5,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,985 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $335,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 34,130 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,885,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co grew its stake in Blackstone by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 24,725 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,263,000 after buying an additional 1,130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of BX opened at $169.94 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. 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 company has a market capitalization of $125.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.68, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.77. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $167.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $149.88.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity

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

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.

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