Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Argus boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.80. 4,058,890 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,587,450. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.42.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

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.