Toronto Dominion Bank Buys 43,680 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 415,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,680 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.06% of Blackstone worth $54,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Ltd. CA increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 103,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 17.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 187,530 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,636,000 after buying an additional 27,795 shares during the period. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 20.9% during the first quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 18,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,486,000 after buying an additional 3,270 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,669 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,919,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. Finally, Covington Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 51,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,810,000 after buying an additional 3,605 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Argus upped their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.56.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $1.98 on Friday, hitting $142.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,214,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,556,653. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $125.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.99.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

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.