Quantinno Capital Management LP Raises Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,980 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 8,917 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,838,000. Main Street Group LTD boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. Main Street Group LTD now owns 995 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 222.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 41,847 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,215,000 after acquiring an additional 28,850 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 87,715 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $15,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 160.9% during the 4th quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 10,336 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 6,375 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $0.07 on Friday, reaching $146.69. 3,788,921 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,774,479. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.25 and a 200-day moving average of $161.48. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $107.03 billion, a PE ratio of 40.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.82.

About Blackstone

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.