Marshall Wace LLP Buys New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 75,171 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $12,961,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 6.5% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,035 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $1.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $132.80. 4,650,279 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,760,154. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $96.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $142.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.09. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

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.