211,134 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Acquired by Saba Capital Management L.P.

Saba Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 211,134 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $24,278,000. Blackstone makes up about 0.7% of Saba Capital Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after acquiring an additional 8,655 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $132.42 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $98.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $120.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.36.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.80%.

Blackstone 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.