AIA Group Ltd Buys 7,809 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 36.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,809 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bay Rivers Group grew its position in Blackstone by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its position in Blackstone by 1.9% during the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the first quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 15,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,047,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BX traded up $2.80 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $129.41. The company had a trading volume of 3,390,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,431,101. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $122.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Argus raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Blackstone Company 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.