Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 680,074 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 675.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 780,738 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 680,074 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Blackstone worth $134,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 11,232 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,163,000. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.5% in the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 25,865 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,961,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,523 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,646,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $3.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $130.22. 1,751,590 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,755,867. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.84. The firm has a market cap of $94.98 billion, a PE ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.