KBC Group NV Buys 7,658 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 120,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,658 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $17,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arcus Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the second quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $139.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $163.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.54. The company has a market capitalization of $102.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. On average, analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders purchased a total of 2,565,543 shares of company stock worth $69,050,139 in the last ninety days. 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.