Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $178.25 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,275,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,803 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $178,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $167.0650 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $160.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone 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.