EULAV Asset Management Purchases 10,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

EULAV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. EULAV Asset Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 6.6% in 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 during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $1,747,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $2.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $153.05. 4,112,668 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,858,905. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $141.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.16. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $111.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

About Blackstone

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.