Rise Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Rise Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 224 shares during the quarter. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.22 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.57. 1,429,550 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,888,176. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.88 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $180.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.66. The company has a market cap of $124.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.30, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

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.