Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,434,254 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,549 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.20% of Blackstone worth $188,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:BX traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $122.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,962,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 43.28, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for 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%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BX. UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone 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.