Vise Technologies Inc. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 50,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $6,000,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $865,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $310,000. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $494,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $872,000. Finally, Latash Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $915,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $141.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.42.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,233.72. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on BX shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

About Blackstone

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.