New Century Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New Century Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $123.40 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a PE ratio of 43.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $122.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 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 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.