Heritage Investors Management Corp Purchases 7,425 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Heritage Investors Management Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 155.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,425 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position 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 last quarter. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 2,851 shares of company stock valued at $357,137. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE BX traded up $3.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $123.00. The stock had a trading volume of 5,938,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,699,540. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.45. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $80.28 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. 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 business earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.