Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 582 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 64,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 39,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. TheStreet lowered Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $118.40 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.94. 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 market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 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 is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’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 value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone 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.