Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co Purchases 6,438 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,584 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.2% of Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co's holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. 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 worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the business's 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 acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $1.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $155.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,048,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,850,287. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $140.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.62. The firm has a market cap of $113.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Blackstone 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.