Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Heirloom Wealth Management

Heirloom Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for approximately 0.4% of Heirloom Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Heirloom Wealth Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Blackstone by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after buying an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,249,000 after buying an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 7.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $118.40. 4,161,200 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,727,804. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.74. 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 market cap of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 205.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone 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.