Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $522,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 327.1% in the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 252 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4 %

BX stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $131.37. 3,087,257 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,809,145. The company has a market cap of $93.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.29 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $125.32 and its 200-day moving average is $115.89.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 205.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.53.

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.