Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Invests $548,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,662 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank grew its position in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $142.63 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $130.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.92. The stock has a market cap of $107.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,883,632.95. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Profile

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.