Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 46,050 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 46,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $7,940,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $63,109,000. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $123,508,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3%

BX stock opened at $139.41 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business 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 earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given 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 yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.