Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by First Heartland Consultants Inc.

First Heartland Consultants Inc. reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,416 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.6%

BX stock opened at $137.53 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $100.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.99.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

Blackstone 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.