Empowered Funds LLC Buys 91,504 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 60.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 242,487 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,504 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $27,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after buying an additional 329,379 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.76.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $132.42 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $120.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.36. The stock has a market cap of $98.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 103.80%.

About Blackstone

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.