Bogart Wealth LLC Sells 170 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bogart Wealth LLC cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.79. 2,918,918 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,674,363. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $124.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.05 and a 1 year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 acquired 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 and have sold 2,587,168 shares worth $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.