Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Invests $158,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,058 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.4%

BX stock opened at $187.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business’s revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.