Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services cut its Blackstone stake by 5.3%, selling 26,630 shares and ending the quarter with 478,878 shares valued at about $53.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 70% of the company.
• Blackstone reported quarterly earnings of $1.32 per share, above the $1.26 estimate, while revenue of $3.06 billion fell short of expectations and declined 0.8% year over year.
• Blackstone lowered its quarterly dividend from $1.29 to $1.12 per share. Analysts’ consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $144.57.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 478,878 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 26,630 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.06% of Blackstone worth $53,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $185,000. Bfsg LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 546 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 1,317 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 10,650 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $1,729,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $154.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler set a $126.00 price target on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $119.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $89.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $165.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm's fifty day moving average is $120.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 23.16%. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be given a $1.12 dividend. This is a decrease from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $2,043,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $12,380,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 771,599 shares of the company's stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 464,792 shares of company stock valued at $12,205,945 and sold 4,047,276 shares valued at $33,507,144. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients.

Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.

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