Principle Wealth Partners LLC Buys 5,625 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 31.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,782 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 5,625 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $168.71.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $177.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,595,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,164,950. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $149.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.68.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.