Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 9,101 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,101 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Blackstone worth $76,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $187.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.25.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $5.61 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $157.89. The stock had a trading volume of 275,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,458,653. The firm has a market cap of $116.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $151.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. This represents a 0.84% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.