Ameriflex Group Inc. Invests $814,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,597 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,970,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,035 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BX traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $138.42. 2,209,733 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,790,110. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.90. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.00 billion, a PE ratio of 38.13, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was 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.

About Blackstone

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.