Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,661 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $708,859,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $290,514,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of BX traded down $4.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.60. 4,328,759 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,235. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $83.33 billion, a PE ratio of 41.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

About Blackstone

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.