Ellerson Group Inc. ADV Has $2.52 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ellerson Group Inc. ADV lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,224 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 318 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 2.2% of Ellerson Group Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Blackstone by 255.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $117.99. The stock had a trading volume of 4,437,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,497,968. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, 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 transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BX. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.