Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 892 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,692 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer lowered Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $117.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $84.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Blackstone 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.