Narwhal Capital Management raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 34.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 last quarter. 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 stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on BX
Insider Activity at Blackstone
In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Blackstone Stock Down 0.0%
BX stock opened at $137.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.40, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 112.05%.
Blackstone Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
Before you consider Blackstone, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Blackstone wasn't on the list.
While Blackstone currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Wondering where to start (or end) with AI stocks? These 10 simple stocks can help investors build long-term wealth as artificial intelligence continues to grow into the future.
Get This Free Report