Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Acquires New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 366,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $63,109,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $132.80 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $141.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $96.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.