SFE Investment Counsel Sells 2,483 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SFE Investment Counsel trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,483 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises approximately 1.5% of SFE Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Barclays upped their price target 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. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.97.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.5 %

Blackstone stock traded down $3.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $120.08. The stock had a trading volume of 4,262,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,700,512. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.81 and a 200 day moving average of $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $85.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.