Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 35,982 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,342,645 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 35,982 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.60% of Blackstone worth $607,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3%

BX traded down $2.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $153.05. 4,112,668 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,858,906. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.10, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $141.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.65.

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.