MetLife Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,779 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 222,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $38,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,970,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. McAdam LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7 %

Blackstone stock opened at $130.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.88, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.85. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BX shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their price target on Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.72.

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.