Key Points
- Blackstone director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $123.80, generating $12.38 million. The sale reduced his direct ownership by 11.47% to 771,599 shares.
- Blackstone reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $1.52 beating estimates of $1.34 and revenue rising 35.9% year over year to $5.04 billion.
- The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.29 per share, equivalent to an annualized $5.16 and a 4.1% yield. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $149.43.
Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 771,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,523,956.20. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.
Blackstone Stock Down 0.3%
BX stock opened at $125.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $189.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.56. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Blackstone Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. 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 dividend yield of 4.1%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 115.44%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $221,478,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $8,667,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $7,303,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. HSBC restated a "hold" rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.43.
Get Our Latest Report on BX
Blackstone Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.
Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.
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