Aspiriant LLC Buys Shares of 2,653 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Aspiriant LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,653 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Argus boosted their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $124.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $88.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.35.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.