OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Acquires 7,975 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,975 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.9%

BX stock opened at $132.42 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $120.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.36. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The firm’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.76.

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.