Congress Park Capital LLC Purchases New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Congress Park Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 8,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $137.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.42.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.