Legal & General Group Plc Has $678.04 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 202,245 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $678,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $142.59 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.75. The firm has a market cap of $105.30 billion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.