Claro Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Claro Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 47.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,699 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $144.32 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $166.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.43%.

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.