Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors Cuts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $2.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $126.25. The company had a trading volume of 405,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,460,982. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.35. The stock has a market cap of $90.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.89, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.