Rational Advisors LLC Sells 4,600 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Rational Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,600 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $708,859,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $290,514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $2.68 during trading on Monday, reaching $141.96. 3,788,172 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,506,393. The company has a 50-day moving average of $131.38 and a 200-day moving average of $126.92. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $145.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.65.

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.