B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Has $10.23 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,310 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,597 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,035 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Barclays raised their price target 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. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $138.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,208,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,783,808. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $136.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.75. The stock has a market cap of $101.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.