Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stake Raised by Sound Income Strategies LLC

Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 53.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $123,508,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $136.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $100.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

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.