SFE Investment Counsel Sells 2,483 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SFE Investment Counsel decreased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,483 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 1.5% of SFE Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 96,256.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $429,634,000 after purchasing an additional 5,784,986 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $3.11 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $120.08. 4,262,977 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,700,512. The business’s fifty day moving average is $126.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.