Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Manchester Capital Management LLC

Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after buying an additional 880,745 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,417,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367,581 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $841,783,000 after purchasing an additional 322,860 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $708,859,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $1.98 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $128.59. The stock had a trading volume of 516,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,408,543. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.74, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.