Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors Decreases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 39,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock traded down $4.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $116.60. 4,328,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,235. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $125.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.68. The company has a market cap of $83.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Blackstone Company 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.