Gotham Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were 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 $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $148.55 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $108.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.50%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

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.