Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for approximately 1.9% of Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0 %

BX traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $122.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,962,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $125.96 and its 200-day moving average is $118.39.

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, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.86%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.