Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC Has $6.88 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises 2.3% of Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.5% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 40,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,665,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 44,968 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,286,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $226,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 6.9% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.2% during the first quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 29,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BX traded down $1.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $151.32. 337,242 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,833,759. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.81 and a 200-day moving average of $151.83. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.