GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was 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 owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $122.90 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.40 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $87.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.97.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Argus boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.