Voya Financial Advisors Inc. Has $1.08 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Voya Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,129 shares during the quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 6.0 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $134.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

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.