NuWave Investment Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

NuWave Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Addison Capital Co raised its stake in Blackstone by 32.3% during the first quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 7,742 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,888 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,864,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $333,275,000 after acquiring an additional 21,083 shares in the last quarter. Homrich & Berg raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.7% during the third quarter. Homrich & Berg now owns 7,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Blackstone by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 64,473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,342,000 after acquiring an additional 17,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $1,825,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.68% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone stock opened at $91.26 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.93. The stock has a market cap of $63.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.37. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.39 and a 12-month high of $149.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 18.77% and a net margin of 23.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 9th. Investors of record on Monday, May 2nd were issued a $1.32 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 29th. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.79%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.93%.

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.39, for a total transaction of $1,769,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 940,493 shares in the company, valued at $33,284,047.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 5,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $109.69 per share, for a total transaction of $548,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 15,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,748,677.98. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,514,376 shares of company stock worth $11,553,227 and sold 669,650 shares worth $37,169,012. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Blackstone from $166.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 20th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Blackstone in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $124.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.00.

About Blackstone (Get Rating)

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.

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