Investment Management Corp of Ontario Acquires 14,394 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 60.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,394 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE BX opened at $139.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.87 and a 200-day moving average of $162.24. The firm has a market cap of $101.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.