ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 165,668 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,392 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 44,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,211,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 25,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.5% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,971 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,232,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 17,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,422,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $144.93 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $164.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $106.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.41, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,565,141 shares of company stock valued at $68,991,351 and sold 185,350 shares valued at $32,368,954. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Bank of America cut their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

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.