Stifel Financial Corp Sells 12,999 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Stifel Financial Corp reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 914,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,999 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.13% of Blackstone worth $157,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 41,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,187,000 after purchasing an additional 19,930 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 158,496 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,328,000 after purchasing an additional 5,144 shares during the period. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 111.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 53,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,192,000 after purchasing an additional 28,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 222,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.11.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 7.8 %

BX stock opened at $120.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $87.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $144.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.73. 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 fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

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.