Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 51,981 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 89.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 51,981 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 15,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in Blackstone by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 2,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $437,000. WealthShield Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 3,842 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on BX shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.56.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE BX traded down $3.98 on Friday, reaching $133.05. The company had a trading volume of 4,695,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,029,145. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $127.15 and its 200-day moving average is $125.69. The stock has a market cap of $95.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.01, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.90%.

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.