Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Invests $63.11 Million in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 366,018 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $63,109,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.05% of Blackstone at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,845,000 after purchasing an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Blackstone by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,053,000 after buying an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $139,302,000 after acquiring an additional 51,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BX. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1 %

BX stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $133.45. The company had a trading volume of 2,270,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,763,535. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $97.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.05.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 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 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

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.