Ransom Advisory Ltd Makes New $879,000 Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $151,524,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Blackstone by 69.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $323,000,000 after acquiring an additional 990,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $173.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.58, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.