Focus Partners Wealth Sells 576,670 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Focus Partners Wealth trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 86.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 576,670 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised 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 note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $149.00 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $108.72 billion, a PE ratio of 41.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.