Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Citizens & Northern Corp

Citizens & Northern Corp raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,105 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth 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. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the purchase, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:BX opened at $137.28 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.03 and a 200-day moving average of $154.42. The stock has a market cap of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results 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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Blackstone Company 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.