Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Has $5.88 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13,900 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $151,524,000. Amundi raised its position in Blackstone by 69.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $146.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,551,515 shares of company stock valued at $67,038,327 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 target price on shares of Blackstone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

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.