Rational Advisors Inc. Has $2.59 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Rational Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,500 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Rational Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after acquiring an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $162.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 48.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.98. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current 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 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.29.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 475,336 shares in the company, 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 corporate 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.

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