Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 5,756 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,756 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $158.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total value of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 1,146,789 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $437,297,073.84. This represents a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $110.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $130.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.34. The company has a market capitalization of $81.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 153.61%.

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.