Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Boltwood Capital Management

Boltwood Capital Management increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 43.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,489 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares during the quarter. Boltwood Capital Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 valued at $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $974,448,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of BX traded up $2.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $140.42. 3,676,336 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,790,945. The firm has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $135.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.96. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.