Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Bamco Inc. NY

Bamco Inc. NY decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 580,010 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 36,232 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $89,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 9.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $124.89 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $120.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $92.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.