Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,213 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,722 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for 2.3% of Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. 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, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $1.57 on Thursday, hitting $155.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,048,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,850,287. The company has a market capitalization of $113.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $140.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.40%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently 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.