Fortis Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Fortis Capital Advisors LLC significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 87.8% during the first quarter, bringing their holdings down to 1,615 shares, valued at $226,000.
• Various institutional investors have actively adjusted their positions in Blackstone, with Brighton Jones LLC increasing its holdings by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, signaling a mix of investment strategies among major players.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03, reflecting a positive change from its previous dividend and indicating a 2.3% yield for investors.

Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 87.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,615 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 11,660 shares during the quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 20,641 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $765,000. Obermeyer Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,947 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $821,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $178.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $131.46 billion, a PE ratio of 47.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $168.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.24.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

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.

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