Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 238,432 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 14,351 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $35,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $105.77 billion, a PE ratio of 41.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.99.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

About Blackstone

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.