Aviance Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,664 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 255.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded up $3.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $121.21. The stock had a trading volume of 3,399,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,688,110. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $80.05 and a one year high of $133.56. 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’s 50 day moving average is $125.06 and its 200 day moving average is $119.25.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.