Midwest Trust Co Buys 8,790 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Midwest Trust Co lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 188,801 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 8,790 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $29,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,358,334,000 after buying an additional 412,281 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after buying an additional 329,379 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $799,236,000 after buying an additional 145,056 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $701,795,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $123.64 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $116.32 and its 200 day moving average is $136.17. The company has a market capitalization of $91.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

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. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 target price on Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.95.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. This represents a 99.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,103,660 shares of company stock valued at $45,982,920. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.