Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Avory & Company LLC

Avory & Company LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 569 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for approximately 0.7% of Avory & Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Avory & Company LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 776,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $83,217,000 after acquiring an additional 60,473 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the third quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,888,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,581.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 401,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $42,980,000 after acquiring an additional 398,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $118.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,021,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,648,017. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $125.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.68.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

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.