iSAM Funds UK Ltd Buys 4,834 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

iSAM Funds UK Ltd increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,834 shares during the quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of BX stock opened at $151.14 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $194.00. The company has a market cap of $111.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.18, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

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.