Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA Buys Shares of 8,216 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,216 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,148,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

BX stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $138.45. The company had a trading volume of 6,190,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,132. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $135.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.15. The stock has a market cap of $101.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Ten equities 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company's stock, 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.