Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,204 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,480 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position in Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $123.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,102,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,597,676. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.60, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 117.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Argus increased their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

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.