Saudi Central Bank Has $6.11 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Saudi Central Bank raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 90.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,953 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 24,696 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $221,478,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $8,667,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,340,000. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $7,303,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $136.07 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $102.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.10.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.