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

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 1.9% of Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. 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 research report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $122.49. 2,962,718 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,161,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 43.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.39.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.