EP Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 3,586 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,586 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Whalerock Point Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $282,571,000. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Blackstone by 133.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 62.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 99,889,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $1,198,673,568.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.37, for a total value of $4,014,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 350,005 shares in the company, valued at $35,130,001.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 99,889,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $1,198,673,568.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,532,616 shares of company stock worth $1,726,902,967 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $87.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.16. The stock has a market cap of $61.64 billion, a PE ratio of 36.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.72 and a 1 year high of $132.93.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The asset manager reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.43% and a net margin of 20.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.71 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 6th were issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $86.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on Blackstone from $69.50 to $69.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $86.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.33.

About Blackstone

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Blackstone, Inc engages in the provision of investment and fund management services. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate, Private Equity, Credit and Insurance, and Hedge Fund Solutions. The Real Estate segment includes management of opportunistic real estate funds, Core+ real estate funds, high-yield real estate debt funds, and liquid real estate debt funds.