Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 173 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,066 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $562,058,000 after purchasing an additional 106,251 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock traded up $2.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $118.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,852,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,652,265. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $84.77 billion, a PE ratio of 41.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $125.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.77.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.