11,000 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Acquired by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,445,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 98,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,984,000 after purchasing an additional 13,609 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $2,185,000. M3 Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $488,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 77,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,121,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $55,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.6 %

BX stock traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $122.86. 775,883 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,514,129. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.31 and its 200-day moving average is $123.92. The company has a market cap of $87.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.41, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53. 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 12 month low of $87.40 and a 12 month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.