Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Boosts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.80. The stock had a trading volume of 4,058,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,587,450. 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 has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $122.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.42.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share 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 given 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 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.