Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Acquires 7,304 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 9.2%, acquiring an additional 7,304 shares to hold a total of 86,892 shares valued at approximately $13 million.
• Major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased over 2.5 million shares, resulting in a 51.09% increase in their ownership, after spending about $65 million on the acquisition.
• Blackstone has recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.7%, albeit with a high dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,892 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 7,304 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,006,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was 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 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of BX opened at $153.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $172.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.22.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. 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 (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $179.00.

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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