Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 22.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 202,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,977 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $26,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Blackstone by 10.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 77.9% in the third quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 23.4% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 71,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,697,000 after buying an additional 13,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $117.47 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $125.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by 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.