Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Lifted by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 158,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,928 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Argus boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.5 %

Blackstone stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $123.72. The stock had a trading volume of 960,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,621,805. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.94 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

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.