Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Invests $12.95 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 110,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $12,952,000. Blackstone accounts for approximately 2.6% of Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after buying an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,326,762,000 after acquiring an additional 384,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $1,275,747,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. 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 upped their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective 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. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $126.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.