Fred Alger Management LLC Buys 46,550 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 22.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 255,884 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,550 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $44,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,109,000. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6 %

BX opened at $136.11 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $137.46 and a 200-day moving average of $162.68. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $99.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.