Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 27,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 460,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $60,291,000 after acquiring an additional 7,262 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in Blackstone by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 56,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,408,000 after purchasing an additional 6,233 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Blackstone Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE BX opened at $142.36 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.94.

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.