Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,981 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,206 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $136.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.02. The company has a market capitalization of $100.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

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.