Beta Wealth Group Inc. Trims Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Beta Wealth Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 74.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 26,044 shares during the quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,462,706,000 after acquiring an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $678,037,000 after buying an additional 202,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,200,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $628,265,000 after acquiring an additional 37,327 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reduced their target price on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 384,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $129.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $149.70 and a 200-day moving average of $157.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.49, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a $1.49 dividend. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Blackstone Company 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.