Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by WealthPlan Investment Management LLC

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,141 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,136 shares during the quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research cut Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.36.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $117.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $117.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $87.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Blackstone 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.