NBC Securities Inc. Purchases 3,970 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 132,333.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,973 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after acquiring an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $974,448,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $2.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $140.42. 3,676,336 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,790,944. The company's 50 day moving average price is $135.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.96. The firm has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company 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 previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.