Blackstone Inc. $BX Stake Boosted by Heard Capital LLC

Heard Capital LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,153,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 67,610 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for approximately 8.3% of Heard Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Heard Capital LLC owned 0.16% of Blackstone worth $177,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,686,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $127.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $120.51 and a 200 day moving average of $130.70. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.