Bouchey Financial Group Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bouchey Financial Group Ltd decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,883 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 341 shares during the period. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Blackstone by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.53.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded up $1.97 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $129.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,098,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,802,498. The company has a market cap of $92.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.88, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.29 and a 1 year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.