Avory & Company LLC Trims Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Avory & Company LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 0.7% of Avory & Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Avory & Company LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 776,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $83,217,000 after acquiring an additional 60,473 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $1,888,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13,581.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 401,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,980,000 after purchasing an additional 398,221 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 10.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,765,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $2.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.12. 2,021,742 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,648,017. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.68. The firm has a market cap of $84.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

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.