Heirloom Wealth Management Cuts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Heirloom Wealth Management lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 263 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 0.4% of Heirloom Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Heirloom Wealth Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Blackstone by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.40. 4,161,200 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,727,804. The company has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $126.47 and its 200-day moving average is $117.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.92.

About Blackstone

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.