Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management

Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 278 shares during the quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $171.74 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $163.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a PE ratio of 46.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.