AXQ Capital LP Takes $1.17 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,579 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,168,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $26,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus decreased their target price on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.05.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders purchased a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of BX stock opened at $115.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $85.44 billion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $132.41. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.