Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires 57,304 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 590,211 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 57,304 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $90,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,100,868,000 after buying an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in Blackstone by 16,035.1% in the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,746,000 after buying an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,795,000 after purchasing an additional 416,933 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,358,334,000 after purchasing an additional 412,281 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Blackstone from $158.00 to $118.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on Blackstone from $158.00 to $138.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Blackstone from $161.00 to $143.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Blackstone from $179.00 to $176.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $128.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $116.99 and a 200 day moving average of $138.83. The company has a market cap of $95.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6.16 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $1.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 153.61%.

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.