Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,588 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. PFG Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $226,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $9,036,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $463,000. Essex LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $381,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 2,796 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $122.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.31 and a 200-day moving average of $118.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.25 billion, a PE ratio of 43.14, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.94.

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.