Insider Buying: Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Director Buys 355 Shares of Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ruth Porat also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 11th, Ruth Porat purchased 84 shares of Blackstone stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $122.77 per share, with a total value of $10,312.68.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5%

Blackstone stock traded down $3.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $119.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,993,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,616,861. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Ruth Porat continued buying Blackstone shares, with two disclosed purchases on May 11. Insider buying is often viewed as a vote of confidence in the company’s outlook. SEC filing
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on Blackstone to $152 from $143 and reiterated a Buy rating, suggesting analysts still see meaningful upside from current levels. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is raising capital for a new long-hold private equity fund, building on its $8 billion core private equity franchise and reinforcing demand for its alternatives platform. Article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings beat expectations on EPS and delivered 10% revenue growth year over year, supporting the view that operating performance remains solid.
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone launched a lending platform for homebuilders that aims to finance construction of more than 50,000 homes annually, a potentially attractive growth initiative but one that will take time to prove out. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone shares have underperformed the broader market over the past six months, which may be pressuring sentiment as investors question near-term momentum. Article
• Negative Sentiment: The company’s dividend payout ratio is elevated, which can raise concerns about how comfortably the dividend is being funded over time.
• Negative Sentiment: A major shareholder sale was also disclosed, which may add a little pressure even though the transaction appears to be more of a routine insider filing than a fundamental warning. Article

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Blackstone by 99.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Blackstone by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,709,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $417,620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,269 shares during the period. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in Blackstone by 16,035.1% in the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. HSBC reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.36.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.