Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Crescent Grove Advisors LLC

Crescent Grove Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 715 shares during the period. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after acquiring an additional 798,734 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after acquiring an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after buying an additional 522,561 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,133.38. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.92.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.29 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $121.18. 3,350,698 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,677,211. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $86.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.51, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

About Blackstone

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.