Paradigm Financial Partners LLC Sells 610 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $122.49 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.57. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the 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 approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.