Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Takes $252,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Bay Rivers Group grew its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,608,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Fragasso Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.88.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded up $2.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.59. 7,353,571 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,259,014. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $99.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.97, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.37.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

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.