Fred Alger Management LLC Has $19.18 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Fred Alger Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 46.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 118,696 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $173.21 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.89. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $127.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Company 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.