Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Sells 2,526 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 34.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,714 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,526 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 53.9% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Blackstone by 22.6% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 11,981 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 2,206 shares during the period. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% during the first quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.4% during the first quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 12,560 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Dover Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 58.4% in the 1st quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 3,388 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:BX traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $137.45. 4,295,546 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,859,352. The company's 50 day moving average is $137.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.86. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $100.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.

Blackstone Company 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.