Zhang Financial LLC Has $1.69 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Zhang Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,523 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $123,508,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $141.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $103.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $135.85 and a 200-day moving average of $156.59. 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 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current 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 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 2.63%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut 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 upped 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, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

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.