Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Position Decreased by CWA Asset Management Group LLC

CWA Asset Management Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,857 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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 note on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.9%

Blackstone stock opened at $135.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $98.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $136.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.88. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired 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. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.