Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 7,280 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,280 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4 %

BX stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,004,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,689,061. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.73, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, 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 transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.