Ellevest Inc. Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ellevest Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 101.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,263 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,676 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $63,109,000. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $139.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.52, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $137.09 and a 200 day moving average of $162.47.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.