Groupama Asset Managment Buys New Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of BX stock opened at $128.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $121.67 and a 200 day moving average of $123.64. The stock has a market cap of $95.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 103.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 573,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. The trade was a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought 10,825,959 shares of company stock valued at $224,789,900 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.