Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 8,321 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 43,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 14,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,281,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $19,866,000. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 466,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,856,000 after acquiring an additional 9,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,503,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Barclays dropped their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $122.63 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $119.98 and a 200-day moving average of $130.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $91.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

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.