Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 820 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 66.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,060 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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 that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% 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 Down 0.0%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $137.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $100.29 billion, a PE ratio of 41.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 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.