Northern Trust Corp Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.97% of Blackstone worth $1,209,707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $63,109,000. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $4.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $137.62. The stock had a trading volume of 4,968,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,773,954. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.34. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.91, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.