Platform Technology Partners Buys 13,035 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Platform Technology Partners boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 52.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 13,035 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 0.8% of Platform Technology Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Platform Technology Partners’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.36.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $122.73 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $91.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $119.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.06.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.