Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Holdings Lifted by Cross Staff Investments Inc

Cross Staff Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 243 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises approximately 4.9% of Cross Staff Investments Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cross Staff Investments Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other 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 stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $122.39. 1,688,853 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,668,169. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.27. The company has a market cap of $87.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.53, a P/E/G 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of 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 note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.