Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,681 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,243 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $613,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $290,514,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $155.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $137.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.80, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $156.46.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Profile

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.