Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its Blackstone stake by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 9,271 shares and ending with 195,532 shares valued at about $30.1 million.
• Blackstone is still drawing a mixed but generally constructive analyst view: Jefferies lifted its price target to $152 and kept a buy rating, while the overall consensus remains Hold with a $151.36 target.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $1.36, topping estimates, and recently paid a $1.16 quarterly dividend, though the payout ratio is high at 118.67%.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,532 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 9,271 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $30,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Ruth Porat made two small open-market purchases of Blackstone shares, a signal investors often view as insider confidence in the company’s outlook. Ruth Porat insider purchase
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on Blackstone to $152 and kept a buy rating, reinforcing expectations for upside relative to recent trading levels. Jefferies raises target on Blackstone
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reported Blackstone is raising money for a third private-equity fund focused on longer-duration holdings, which could support future fee-related earnings and expand its core PE franchise. Blackstone core private equity fund
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone continues to benefit from strategic activity in alternative assets, including the monetization of its music catalog, which highlights the value of its investment platform. Sony royalties story
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone disclosed a prior sale of 25,000 shares by a major shareholder, but the move was small relative to the company’s size and appears more procedural than a major signal. Blackstone shareholder sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock remains below its 200-day moving average and has lagged the broader market over the past six months, so investors may still be treating the name as a turnaround-and-recovery story. Blackstone recent performance commentary
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion is still mixed overall, with some firms downgrading or maintaining cautious stances despite the latest upgrade, which may limit enthusiasm near term. Blackstone analyst ratings

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 125,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,375,000. This represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 4,015,297 shares of company stock worth $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on BX shares. Argus lowered their price target on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.36.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $119.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $116.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.10. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $88.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Blackstone Company 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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