Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.02. The firm has a market cap of $100.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Blackstone Company 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.