Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Van Cleef Asset Management Inc

Van Cleef Asset Management Inc cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 target price on shares of Blackstone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC decreased their target price on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $107.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.17.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business 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 anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

About Blackstone

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.