Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. Invests $202,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. has acquired 1,350 shares of Blackstone Inc., valued at approximately $202,000, as noted in its recent SEC filing.
• Research analysts have recently upgraded their price targets for Blackstone, with Wells Fargo setting a new target of $167 and Deutsche Bank raising theirs to $192, indicating a generally positive outlook for the stock.
• Blackstone has announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting strong earnings performance and a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,350 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $151,524,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 69.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $187.99. 7,403,015 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,242,008. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The business's fifty day moving average price is $172.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.