Benjamin Edwards Inc. Reduces Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 10.2% in the first quarter, selling 1,864 shares and now owning 16,434 shares valued at about $2.3 million.
• Blackstone reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.21, surpassing estimates, with a revenue of $3.07 billion, a 32.7% increase compared to the previous year.
• The firm recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93, reflecting a 2.4% yield.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,434 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,864 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $3.07 on Friday, reaching $171.61. 3,681,204 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,651,876. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $159.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.12.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. JMP Securities raised their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. 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.