RIA Advisory Group LLC Invests $219,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 121,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,002,000 after purchasing an additional 7,907 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Blackstone by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,314,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Blackstone by 1,722.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,046,000 after acquiring an additional 476,768 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $118.40. 4,122,973 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,727,302. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

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.