Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 148 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,280 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $429,634,000 after acquiring an additional 5,784,986 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.86 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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 132.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.92.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.