Insider Buying: Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Acquires 222 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Blackstone Inc. Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $170.29, increasing her total holdings to 38,753 shares, valued at approximately $6.6 million.
• Blackstone's recent earnings report showed earnings per share of $1.21, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $3.07 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 32.7%.
• The company announced a dividend increase, with a quarterly payout of $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.12 and a yield of 2.3%.

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Ruth Porat also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 11th, Ruth Porat bought 52 shares of Blackstone stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $169.72 per share, for a total transaction of $8,825.44.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE BX traded up $2.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $176.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,598,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,249,568. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $156.93 and a 200 day moving average of $150.08. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.47, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after acquiring an additional 16,486 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

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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