Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,647 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,367 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 76,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,440 shares during the period. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth $245,000. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.5% in the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,576 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $939,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 132,333.3% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,973 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on BX shares. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $138.62. 1,346,452 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,783,235. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale 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.