Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 309 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 309 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after acquiring an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Blackstone by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:BX traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $123.54. 494,293 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,466,961. The company has a fifty day moving average of $122.37 and a 200 day moving average of $124.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.