Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $115.09 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 978,074 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $115,090,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.13% of Blackstone at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.5% during the third quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 869,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,883,632.95. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.25 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $107.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.88 and a 200-day moving average of $122.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Profile

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.