Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Cuts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,302 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after acquiring an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $138.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $135.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.27. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $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 insiders.

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.