Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 159,378 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Delta Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $229,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 35,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,685,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 98.3% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,586 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 69,471 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 7,159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.87 during trading on Thursday, reaching $120.32. 5,660,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,721,466. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $126.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.64.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.97.

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.