EP Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 843 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,398 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.96 on Friday, hitting $121.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,685,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,907,827. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $87.40 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $86.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

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.