Clarius Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Clarius Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 22.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,366 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 2,671 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded up $1.59 on Thursday, reaching $137.28. The company had a trading volume of 2,687,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,807,221. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $136.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $154.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Blackstone's 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.