Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Sells 48,433 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC cut its Blackstone stake by 59.9% in the first quarter, selling 48,433 shares and ending with 32,390 shares worth about $3.73 million.
• Blackstone reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $1.36 topping estimates by $0.02 and revenue rising 10% year over year to $3.43 billion.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share, equal to a 4.0% annualized yield, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $150.86.

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 59.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,390 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 48,433 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,861,885,000 after buying an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of BX opened at $115.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.22. The company has a market cap of $85.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays reduced their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $150.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the purchase, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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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