Allen Capital Group LLC Sells 18,108 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Allen Capital Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,018 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 18,108 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 1.2% of Allen Capital Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Allen Capital Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 96,256.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $429,634,000 after acquiring an additional 5,784,986 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $118.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.89. The company had a trading volume of 3,539,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,671,344. The business has a 50 day moving average of $126.87 and a 200 day moving average of $117.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

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.