Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geller Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 2,161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 20,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 101.6% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 11,263 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 5,676 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,154,633 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $199,082,000 after acquiring an additional 22,334 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.2%

BX stock opened at $146.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $107.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $137.08 and its 200 day moving average is $161.71.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. 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 2.54%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased 1,660,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,981,930 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

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.