Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases 21,300 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 197,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 21,300 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $708,859,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $290,514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $137.12. The company had a trading volume of 2,577,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,467,962. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $145.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $134.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $97.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

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.