Objective Capital Management LLC Sells 79 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Objective Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. Objective Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 520.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,228 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 3,379 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4%

Blackstone stock opened at $139.43 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $159.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $101.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company 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 last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid 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 yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. 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 research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Blackstone Company 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.