BSW Wealth Partners Sells 236 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

BSW Wealth Partners trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 236 shares during the quarter. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 33.4% in the first quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 17.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 106,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,742,000 after acquiring an additional 16,204 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 6.3% during the first quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% in the first quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,120 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 143.5% in the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 140,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,569,000 after acquiring an additional 82,500 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BX. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $151.29 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $110.39 billion, a PE ratio of 45.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.