Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.1%

BX stock opened at $136.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.50 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.85.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

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.