LVW Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LVW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. 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. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $123.80 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $122.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company 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 business earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

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.