Jennison Associates LLC Sells 258,954 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 466,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 258,954 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.07% of Blackstone worth $61,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PFG Advisors acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.7% in the third quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. now owns 66,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 5.9% in the third quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 5.1% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 21.4% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.22 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $126.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

About Blackstone

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.