Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 1,217 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,313 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. now owns 66,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 21.4% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $1.31 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.00. 942,621 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,681,844. The firm has a market cap of $87.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $126.30 and its 200 day moving average is $118.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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 company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’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 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend payout ratio is 132.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.94.

Blackstone 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.