GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $0.61 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $123.70. 1,076,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,683,262. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $88.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $126.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.20.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BX. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.