Crestline Management LP Buys 2,985 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 128.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,985 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after buying an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 232.1% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Weybosset Research & Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 91,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,737,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 12,998 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,241,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $139.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $162.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,981,930. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.