Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Trimmed by Highland Capital Management LLC

Highland Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,098 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 27,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $855,000. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $317,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 202,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,584,000 after purchasing an additional 36,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank OZK boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank OZK now owns 10,189 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.65.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $4.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.28. 4,886,915 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,504,612. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $99.54 billion, a PE ratio of 49.22, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $130.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.82.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

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.