Everpar Advisors LLC Takes $1.82 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,000. Blackstone comprises approximately 0.8% of Everpar Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $1,786,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $236,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 7,963 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,087 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,259,000 after purchasing an additional 5,278 shares during the period. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.79. 2,918,918 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,674,363. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.05 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The business’s 50-day moving average is $124.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 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 $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 and sold 2,587,168 shares worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BX. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet downgraded Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.