Guinness Asset Management LTD Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Guinness Asset Management LTD lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after purchasing an additional 880,745 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,417,140,000 after buying an additional 1,367,581 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $841,783,000 after purchasing an additional 322,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $708,859,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays reissued 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $124.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,209,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,518,062. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $87.40 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Blackstone 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.