HighTower Advisors LLC Has $260.94 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its Blackstone stake by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, ending with 1,692,851 shares valued at about $260.9 million.
• Blackstone’s latest quarterly results beat EPS expectations, with $1.36 per share versus the $1.34 estimate, while revenue rose 10% year over year to $3.43 billion.
• The company paid a $1.16 quarterly dividend and now offers a 4.0% annualized yield, even as its payout ratio remains high at 118.67%.

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,692,851 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 39,841 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.23% of Blackstone worth $260,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $194,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,197 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $701,795,000 after purchasing an additional 416,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,358,334,000 after buying an additional 412,281 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 target price on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.05.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 125,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,375,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. This represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders purchased 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BX stock opened at $117.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.38. The company has a market cap of $87.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. Blackstone's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.