Voloridge Investment Management LLC Purchases New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 316,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $54,648,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 11,629 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Blackstone by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 4,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $144.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.16. The stock has a market cap of $105.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% 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.

Blackstone Company 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.