Assetmark Inc. Acquires 3,186 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 68,658 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,186 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,513 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,296,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Blackstone by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 29,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz SE bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.71.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $177.96 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.35. The company has a market cap of $129.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.