Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,195,551 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $895,817,000 after acquiring an additional 144,926 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $708,477,000 after purchasing an additional 678,111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the purchase, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.7%

BX opened at $176.82 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $129.02 billion, a PE ratio of 47.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.43.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Blackstone Company 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.