Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 1,811,214 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,811,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $213,126,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $127.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. The trade was a 12.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,883,632.95. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.