EP Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 3,981 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,464 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,981 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

Blackstone stock traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $139.41. The stock had a trading volume of 3,113,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,765,155. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $101.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $136.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued 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 is 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock worth $24,981,930 in the last quarter. 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.