Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Major Shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone Sells 25,000 Shares of Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 125,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,375,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $122.86 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $91.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $116.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. HSBC lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.36.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.