Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Makes New $861,000 Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc., purchasing 6,159 shares valued at approximately $861,000 during the first quarter.
• Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $167.36, reducing his stake by 11%, while the company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03.
• Several analysts have rated Blackstone with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12, with some forecasts projecting strong growth in earnings per share for the current year.

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,159 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $1.87 during trading on Thursday, hitting $174.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,834,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,244,846. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.27. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $128.81 billion, a PE ratio of 46.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Company 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.