Ellis Investment Partners LLC Has $7.59 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 92 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.6% of Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE BX opened at $137.45 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.29 billion, a PE ratio of 41.40, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results 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 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. 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 previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.