Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 383,827 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 39.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,345,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 383,827 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $176,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 15,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,684 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $215,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $140.81. 698,350 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,536,805. The firm has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a PE ratio of 49.74, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $125.80 and its 200 day moving average is $125.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Argus increased their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.56.

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.