Sheets Smith Wealth Management Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 is available at the SEC website. 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 that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’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 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BX. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Argus increased their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $117.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,437,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,497,968. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $125.14 and its 200-day moving average is $119.06.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

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.