Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 71.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,623 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 8,604 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.2%

BX traded up $1.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $137.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,687,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,807,221. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 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. The stock's 50 day moving average is $136.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.76.

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 (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.65.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase 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 acquired 1,660,000 shares of the company'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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.