Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co. purchased 168,200 Blackstone shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $19.8 million. Institutional investors own about 70% of Blackstone’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with 13 Buy ratings and 11 Holds and an average price target of $147.95. Blackstone shares recently opened at $143.56.
• Blackstone exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.52 in EPS and $5.04 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 35.9% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.29, equivalent to a 3.6% annualized yield.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 168,200 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $19,792,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,112,162,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after acquiring an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,326,762,000 after acquiring an additional 384,264 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $128.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.57. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.Blackstone's revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 573,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This trade represents a 7.28% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 371 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $137.17 per share, with a total value of $50,890.07. Following the purchase, the director owned 42,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,787,065.13. The trade was a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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