1832 Asset Management L.P. Cuts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

1832 Asset Management L.P. lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 30.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,273 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 31,786 shares during the quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on BX shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.78.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $157.61 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.69, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $161.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’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 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.