Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 42.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 504,190 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 150,001 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $56,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Blackstone by 99.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Blackstone by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,709,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $417,620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,269 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 476.1% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,324,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $204,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,307 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $122.73 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $91.17 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $119.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.87.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.36.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.