Victory Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 460,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,262 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Blackstone worth $60,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 6,891 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $902,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 18,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,414,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 5,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in Blackstone by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 7,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 64,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,509,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $117.99 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.85.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.