John G. Finley Sells 25,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BX opened at $139.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $101.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 9,534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,644,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 11,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 232.1% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.82.

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.