Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Has $1.90 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,535 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Blackstone by 255.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.42 on Thursday, hitting $123.36. 3,573,182 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,694,664. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.21 and a 200 day moving average of $118.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 132.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BX. Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet lowered Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.