Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $124.47 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.59 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.98, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.