Optiver Holding B.V. Sells 1,053 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Optiver Holding B.V. reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,990 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,053 shares during the quarter. Optiver Holding B.V.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,577,000 after acquiring an additional 835,170 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $133.61 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $140.89 and its 200 day moving average is $164.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $97.46 billion, a PE ratio of 36.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

About Blackstone

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.