Second Line Capital LLC Sells 420 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Second Line Capital LLC trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,959 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $146.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.25 and a 200-day moving average of $161.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. 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.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.