Ameriflex Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,597 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 4,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,577,000 after acquiring an additional 835,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $136.23 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $137.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.44. The stock has a market cap of $99.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.53, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.