1,550 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Acquired by BIP Wealth LLC

BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

BX traded down $0.83 on Thursday, hitting $122.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,904,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,672,351. The company has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.08, a PEG ratio of 1.03 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 quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.24.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

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.