Raymond James & Associates Has $188.42 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,434,254 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 38,549 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $188,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Argus lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0 %

Blackstone stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $122.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,962,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 43.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. 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.