Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Purchases Shares of 3,535 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,535 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 4.3% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 11,638 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.3% in the third quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 35,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,830,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 5,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,975 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.53.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $130.96 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.29 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $125.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.89. The firm has a market cap of $93.59 billion, a PE ratio of 71.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently 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.