Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,271 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $30,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Plancorp LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 45,948 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares during the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Blackstone by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 52,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,091,000 after acquiring an additional 8,932 shares during the last quarter. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 23,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rayburn West Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Ruth Porat made two small open-market purchases of Blackstone shares, a signal investors often view as insider confidence in the company’s outlook. Ruth Porat insider purchase
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on Blackstone to $152 and kept a buy rating, reinforcing expectations for upside relative to recent trading levels. Jefferies raises target on Blackstone
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reported Blackstone is raising money for a third private-equity fund focused on longer-duration holdings, which could support future fee-related earnings and expand its core PE franchise. Blackstone core private equity fund
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone continues to benefit from strategic activity in alternative assets, including the monetization of its music catalog, which highlights the value of its investment platform. Sony royalties story
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone disclosed a prior sale of 25,000 shares by a major shareholder, but the move was small relative to the company’s size and appears more procedural than a major signal. Blackstone shareholder sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock remains below its 200-day moving average and has lagged the broader market over the past six months, so investors may still be treating the name as a turnaround-and-recovery story. Blackstone recent performance commentary
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion is still mixed overall, with some firms downgrading or maintaining cautious stances despite the latest upgrade, which may limit enthusiasm near term.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BX. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research cut shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.36.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $119.63 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $116.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $88.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders acquired 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.