Focus Partners Wealth Acquires 1,094,307 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 476.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,324,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,094,307 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $204,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after acquiring an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.86.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $122.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $91.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $119.98 and its 200 day moving average is $131.03. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the purchase, the director owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders bought 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Profile

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.