Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $94.36 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 720,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 56,003 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.10% of Blackstone worth $94,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 255.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $190,920,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $117.99. The stock had a trading volume of 4,411,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,691,220. The company has a market cap of $84.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $125.29 and a 200 day moving average of $118.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.