Herold Advisors Inc. Sells 374 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Herold Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.7 %

Blackstone stock opened at $122.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.39. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $87.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.