Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 459 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 459 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Blackstone by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.92.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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 that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 205.46%.

Blackstone 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.