Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by ProVise Management Group LLC

ProVise Management Group LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,615 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after buying an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4%

BX opened at $141.46 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $163.12 and a 200-day moving average of $157.60. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $104.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.