Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kovack Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,642 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,438 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Dupree Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $274,000. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 37,983 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,080 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 19,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 78,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2 %

BX stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $123.40. 2,102,519 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,597,676. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $122.35 and a 200-day moving average of $124.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

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.