Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,234 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 447 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $139.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 919,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,482,932. The firm has a market cap of $99.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $132.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Blackstone 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.