Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Sells 1,209 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,209 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.53.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $168.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $124.12 billion, a PE ratio of 45.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $173.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.