Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Holdings Reduced by Disciplined Equity Management Inc.

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for approximately 0.9% of Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 255.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BX traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.77. 2,021,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,696,255. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $126.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.24. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

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.