MONECO Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

MONECO Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 778 shares during the quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth about $190,920,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $116.36 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $125.63 and a 200 day moving average of $118.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone 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 directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.