Vise Technologies Inc. Purchases 7,919 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 232.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,322 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,919 shares during the quarter. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after buying an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $136.23 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $99.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $137.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.55. 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 (NYSE:BX) last released 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.