McIlrath & Eck LLC Has $163,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

McIlrath & Eck LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 946 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 835,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BX opened at $144.10 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $105.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the purchase, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.