Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stake Lifted by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 36.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,809 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Bay Rivers Group boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,608,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% during the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Fragasso Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 15,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,047,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX traded up $2.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $129.41. The company had a trading volume of 3,390,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,431,101. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $92.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.25. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

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.