BIP Wealth LLC Invests $203,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $562,058,000 after purchasing an additional 106,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

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 dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 dated 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 directly 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 through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded down $0.83 on Thursday, hitting $122.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,904,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,672,351. The stock has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 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. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.24.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company 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%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid 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 2.70%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.86%.

Blackstone 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.