International Assets Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

International Assets Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $156.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.03, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $171.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.82. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.26.

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.