Allen Investment Management LLC Sells 8,708 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Allen Investment Management reduced its Blackstone stake by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 8,708 shares and leaving it with 315,988 shares valued at about $48.7 million.
• Blackstone’s insider activity was mixed: major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7.48 million shares, while director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares. Overall, insiders own about 1% of the company.
• Analysts remain divided on BX, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $151.05. Blackstone also recently beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.36 per share on revenue of $3.43 billion, and paid a $1.16 quarterly dividend yielding about 4.0%.

Allen Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 315,988 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,708 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $48,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 9.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total value of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citizens Jmp cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $117.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.63. The firm's fifty day moving average is $118.75 and its 200 day moving average is $132.41. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.67%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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