Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC Sells 7,075 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,075 shares during the quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Blackstone by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after acquiring an additional 798,734 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after acquiring an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $118.40. 4,161,200 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,727,804. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.92.

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.