Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Sells 458 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,975 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 458 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $429,634,000 after purchasing an additional 5,784,986 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.97.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.8 %

Blackstone stock traded down $3.41 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $119.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,268,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,655,826. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $126.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.64. The company has a market cap of $85.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.32, a PEG ratio of 0.99 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

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.