ProVise Management Group LLC Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• ProVise Management Group LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 4.6%, owning 35,289 shares valued at approximately $4.93 million after selling 1,715 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Blackstone, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its position by 14,608.6% during the same period.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, representing a 2.4% yield and a boost from the previous dividend of $0.93.

ProVise Management Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,289 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,715 shares during the quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after buying an additional 835,170 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 675.6% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 780,738 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $134,615,000 after acquiring an additional 680,074 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. 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. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $172.94 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $151.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.84. The stock has a market cap of $126.19 billion, a PE ratio of 46.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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