Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC Invests $317,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,423 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 287,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,770,000 after acquiring an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 163,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,464,000 after acquiring an additional 6,559 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 3,184 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upped their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $122.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,962,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.39. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 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 company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 132.86%.

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.