Aviance Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 41.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,613 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $239,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 36,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,238,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,093,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 7,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 55,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,399,000 after acquiring an additional 8,942 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 384,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $187.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.25.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $163.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $120.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $151.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.32. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.29. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.