Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Sells 14,687 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Ascent Wealth Partners reduced its stake in Blackstone by 28.4%, selling 14,687 shares and ending the quarter with 37,010 shares valued at about $5.71 million.
• Q1 results and dividend: Blackstone beat estimates with $1.36 EPS (vs. $1.34 est.) and $3.62B revenue (vs. $3.45B est.), and declared a $1.16 quarterly dividend (annualized $4.64, yield 3.7%) despite a high payout ratio of 152.4%.
• Market sentiment and insider moves: Analysts are split but the consensus is a "Hold" with a $150.95 target, institutions own ~70% of shares, and insiders have been net sellers (about 9.1M shares sold in the past three months).

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,010 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 14,687 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 15,116 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,583,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,578 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target 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. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.95.

Blackstone News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sources say Apollo, Blackstone and KKR are competing to buy Shell’s stake in the massive LNG Canada project — a potential strategic investment for Blackstone that could add scale to its energy/private assets and revenue potential if a deal is reached. Exclusive: Apollo, Blackstone and KKR vie for Shell stake in LNG Canada, sources say
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend coverage highlights an upcoming payout (Simply Wall St/Yahoo piece), which can support investor sentiment for BX by signaling cash return and income potential for shareholders. Blackstone Inc. NYSE: BX Pays A US$1.16 Dividend In Just Two Days
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused coverage of Blackstone’s Q1 earnings call (MSN roundup of top analyst questions) may affect near-term guidance detail and investor expectations but is more informational unless new guidance or revisions emerge. Blackstone’s Q1 earnings call: Our top 5 analyst questions
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 BX shares on May 1 at about $125.79 (≈$3.78M), reducing his stake by ~3.23% — a large, disclosed sale that can be perceived negatively by investors searching for insider conviction. SEC filing: Insider sale SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research moved BX to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), a notable downgrade that can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling by momentum/quant strategies. Coverage referenced by Zacks/TickerReport and media roundups. Zacks.com Tickerreport: Zacks downgrade

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $126.56 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $115.95 and a 200 day moving average of $136.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.63. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 152.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,103,660 shares of company stock valued at $45,982,920. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

About Blackstone

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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