Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Reduced by Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,075 shares during the quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th 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. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Citigroup cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.92.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded down $1.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,161,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,727,804. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.70, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. 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 fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.