Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Yousif Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 203 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 498.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,290,886 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,631,000 after acquiring an additional 10,238,110 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $429,634,000 after acquiring an additional 5,784,986 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Blackstone by 98,060.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,908,037 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $456,300,000 after buying an additional 4,903,037 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 40,375,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,546,613,000 after buying an additional 1,480,848 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.35% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $100.90 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.72 and a 12-month high of $116.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $104.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $71.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.47.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The asset manager reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). Blackstone had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 140.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 3.91 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 27th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 134.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 29,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.39, for a total transaction of $2,762,461.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 424,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,253,092.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 29,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.39, for a total transaction of $2,762,461.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 424,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,253,092.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 74,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.32, for a total transaction of $8,002,315.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 985,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,804,963.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,411,551 shares of company stock valued at $200,784,548. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $97.00 to $94.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $110.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.22.

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.