Mission Wealth Management LP Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 61.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $424,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 77.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 71,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,697,000 after acquiring an additional 13,602 shares during the period. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $117.47 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet lowered Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

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.