Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,025 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE BX traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $122.44. 2,962,411 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,686,269. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $125.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $87.50 billion, a PE ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.