Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC Purchases 4,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 350,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 26.8% of Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $48,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 29,224 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,039,000 after purchasing an additional 11,786 shares during the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $861,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $974,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $138.74 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $136.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $159.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The firm 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, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given 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 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

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.