Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Grows Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,537 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 168,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,225,000 after acquiring an additional 23,420 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 24,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 4,469 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 35,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,080,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574 shares during the period. Finally, Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $627,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.1%

BX opened at $136.37 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $136.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.39. The company has a market cap of $99.50 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

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.