15,594 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Acquired by Harvest Investment Advisors LLC

Harvest Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,404,000. Blackstone comprises about 1.4% of Harvest Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BX. 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.86.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $127.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $120.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.70. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.