UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 30,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,577,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Conway Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,786,000. Focused Alpha LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $1,101,000. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $9,698,000. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,378,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $6,112,162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms recently commented on BX. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.
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 bought 573,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $15,000,006.10. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.
Blackstone Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.45.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict 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 3.7%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.
Blackstone Company 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.
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