5,679 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Purchased by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,679 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $123,508,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE BX opened at $137.45 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $100.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $137.23 and a 200-day moving average of $153.86.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 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.

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