Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Has $27.96 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,044 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 12,797 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $27,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $162.18.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.5%

Blackstone stock traded up $6.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $177.97. 7,588,530 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,004,728. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.86 billion, a PE ratio of 53.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Blackstone 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.