Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 7,159 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,471 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,159 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th 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. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.4 %

BX stock opened at $120.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.66. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $85.96 billion, a PE ratio of 65.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.97.

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.