Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Position Increased by Ellevest Inc.

Ellevest Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 101.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,263 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 5,676 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $154.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,981,930. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3%

BX stock traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $139.41. 3,113,790 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,765,155. The company has a market capitalization of $101.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

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.