Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Capital Analysts LLC

Capital Analysts LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,115 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $887,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $120.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.97.

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.