Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $136.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.02. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given 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 dividend yield of 2.69%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.