Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,313 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $123.00. The stock had a trading volume of 942,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,681,844. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 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 is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, 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 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

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.