Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Holdings Increased by Western Financial Corp CA

Western Financial Corp CA increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 829 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Blackstone by 190.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,708 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 9,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,684,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 112.9% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 41,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,099,000 after buying an additional 21,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $143.62 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors 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 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired 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 owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents 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.

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.