Royal Fund Management LLC Has $5.97 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Royal Fund Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,735 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $562,058,000 after purchasing an additional 106,251 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.8 %

BX traded down $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $117.99. 4,437,459 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,497,968. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $125.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.