PDS Planning Inc Invests $222,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,699 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $190,920,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet downgraded Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $124.22 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $126.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.20. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 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.