Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 21,439 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,523,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $92,817,000 after acquiring an additional 387,109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 573,614 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $15,000,006.10. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. The trade was a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 371 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $137.17 per share, with a total value of $50,890.07. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,787,065.13. The trade was a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE BX opened at $143.56 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $107.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $128.82 and its 200 day moving average is $122.44. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.44%.

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.