D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $22.28 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,424 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,541 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $22,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,747,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of BX stock traded up $1.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $155.13. 2,048,009 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,850,287. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $140.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.62.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.