Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Takes $980,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,683 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $980,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 14,731 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after acquiring an additional 3,499 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 2,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,558,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $441,091,000 after purchasing an additional 34,526 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $47,011,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $7,940,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $149.00 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $136.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $162.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $108.72 billion, a PE ratio of 41.05, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 1,660,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,981,930 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

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.