Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Invests $41.07 Million in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 238,196 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $41,070,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 520.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Blackstone by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,228 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 84.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 3,379 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.4%

Blackstone stock opened at $139.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.90. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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