Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,879 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 1,897 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Blackstone by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research 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.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $162.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $3.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $168.86. 4,127,243 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,883,181. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.21 billion, a PE ratio of 50.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. The company's 50-day moving average is $146.01 and its 200 day moving average is $150.73. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

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.