Bank OZK Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bank OZK grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,189 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Bank OZK’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after buying an additional 15,875 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,314,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Blackstone by 1,722.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,046,000 after buying an additional 476,768 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 536.5% in the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,726,000 after buying an additional 11,110 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $122.49. The company had a trading volume of 2,962,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. The stock has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.39. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

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.