IAM Advisory LLC Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

IAM Advisory LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,265 shares during the period. IAM Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Argus lifted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.56.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2 %

Blackstone stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $130.93. 1,416,063 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,543,412. The company has a market cap of $93.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.11 and a 200-day moving average of $126.12. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $145.16. 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 (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). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.