LGT Capital Partners LTD. Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 22,700 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $30,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 6.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% in the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of BX opened at $170.42 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $124.35 billion, a PE ratio of 45.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company’s revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.12.

About Blackstone

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.