Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by First Foundation Advisors

First Foundation Advisors cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,606 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after acquiring an additional 880,745 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,417,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367,581 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $841,783,000 after acquiring an additional 322,860 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $708,859,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of BX stock traded up $2.18 on Friday, hitting $138.59. 7,353,571 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,259,014. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $124.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.04 billion, a PE ratio of 48.97, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $142.04.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’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 transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.88.

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.