Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was 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 $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $146.70 on Friday. 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $137.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results 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). The business 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 in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

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.