Man Group plc Buys New Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Man Group plc acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 43,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,114,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invst LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $219,000. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Valtrion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $450,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $3,465,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $221,478,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 371 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $137.17 per share, for a total transaction of $50,890.07. Following the purchase, the director owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at $5,787,065.13. This trade represents a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen investment 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, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.43.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $142.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $130.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.86. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. 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.