Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Grows Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,215 shares during the quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% during the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 2,031 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,242 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 8.0% during the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,842 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $256,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $142.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $159.22 and a 200 day moving average of $157.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $105.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.