Means Investment CO. Inc. Sells 4,315 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Means Investment CO. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,517 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,315 shares during the quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $123,508,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $137.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.42. The firm has a market cap of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.