Strategic Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 4,711 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 4,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $659,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during 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 increased its position 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 worth $2,637,266,000 after acquiring an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Blackstone Company 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.