Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Voya Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 3.1%, acquiring an additional 5,346 shares, bringing its total holdings to 178,844 shares valued at approximately $25 million.
• Blackstone reported a strong quarterly earnings performance with a net income of $1.21 per share, outperforming the estimate of $1.10, alongside a revenue of $3.07 billion.
• The company has raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93 and translating to an annual yield of 2.3%.

Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 178,844 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 5,346 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Invst LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $891,000. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,035 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $27,213,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $183.77. 2,924,317 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,335,116. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $171.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.88. The stock has a market cap of $135.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.40, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company 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%.Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 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.