Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Rossmore Private Capital

Rossmore Private Capital raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 34.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 6,214 shares during the quarter. Rossmore Private Capital’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 14,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after buying an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 244,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,642,000 after purchasing an additional 43,568 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $318,000. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 1,753 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $117.96 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $87.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.36.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 4,015,297 shares of company stock worth $105,053,996 and have sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.