Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS

Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 54.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,031 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 2,114 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS's holdings in Blackstone were worth $843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Blackstone by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,671 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 84.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,364 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,270,000 after buying an additional 3,379 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $472,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 57,747 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. Bank of America reduced their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.45. 6,190,012 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,794,132. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $101.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $135.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

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). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. 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.