Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Holdings Raised by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,284 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.9%

BX stock opened at $140.42 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

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.