Glen Eagle Advisors LLC Sells 6,554 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Glen Eagle Advisors LLC lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 56.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,554 shares during the quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $133.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.80%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired a total of 10,825,959 shares of company stock worth $224,789,900 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Argus reduced their price target on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.76.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.