Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BXFree Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,483,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $1,275,747,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 99.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $164,597,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,709,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $417,620,000 after buying an additional 1,249,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 476.1% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,324,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $204,193,000 after buying an additional 1,094,307 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Zacks Research raised Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp dropped 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 report on Thursday, July 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Read Our Latest Report on BX

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $143.94 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.51. The company has a market cap of $108.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BXGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 573,614 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at $221,118,071.70. The trade was a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Blackstone (NYSE:BX)

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