Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,923 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 190.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,708 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 61,905 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,674,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $148.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $138.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.90. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $108.10 billion, a PE ratio of 44.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

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.