Western Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,649 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares during the period. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.2% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12.8% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $119.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 686,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,679,074. The business has a fifty day moving average of $126.66 and a 200 day moving average of $117.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $85.49 billion, a PE ratio of 65.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.97.

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.