Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 5,974 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 36.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,526 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,974 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $2.08 on Monday, reaching $153.05. 4,112,668 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,858,906. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.16. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $111.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. 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 currently 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Citigroup dropped 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. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

About Blackstone

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.