Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 2,070 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,348,000 after purchasing an additional 15,875 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $855,000. Chicago Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,314,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1,722.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,046,000 after acquiring an additional 476,768 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Argus boosted their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.7 %

BX opened at $121.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a PE ratio of 42.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.05 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

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.