3,962 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Acquired by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $128.18 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $121.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 573,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 8,455,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $221,118,071.70. This trade represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 10,825,959 shares of company stock worth $224,789,900. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company 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.