GAMMA Investing LLC Takes $462,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. now owns 66,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,093,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $123.70. 1,076,445 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,683,262. The stock has a market cap of $88.40 billion, a PE ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’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 transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

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.