Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 22.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 202,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,977 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $26,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Blackstone by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $424,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 77.9% in the third quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Blackstone by 23.4% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 71,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,697,000 after purchasing an additional 13,602 shares during the period. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $214,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $117.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $83.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.51, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $125.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.