7,494 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $865,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 92.2% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $92,817,000 after purchasing an additional 387,109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 371 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $137.17 per share, with a total value of $50,890.07. Following the purchase, the director owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,787,065.13. The trade was a 0.89% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

Blackstone stock opened at $143.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.57. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.44%.

About Blackstone

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.