Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,782 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,046 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd 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. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $562,058,000 after purchasing an additional 106,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BX. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $117.99 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company’s fifty day moving average is $125.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during 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%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.