Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 125,531 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,451 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $17,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the insider now 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.02.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. 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 prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.