Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 274,884 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,370 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $47,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on BX shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.9 %

BX opened at $136.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

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.