Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,270 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,506 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.4% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Jain Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $9,116,000. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 1,270,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $217,083,000 after acquiring an additional 24,237 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 840,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $143,582,000 after acquiring an additional 142,479 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 346,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $58,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $117.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $87.63 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC cut their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.36.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total value of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders bought 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Profile

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.