Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 5,580 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,385 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,580 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,053,000 after buying an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen dropped 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 7.1 %

BX stock traded down $9.27 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $121.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,655,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,703,224. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $145.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $88.35 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.