Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 7,280 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,085 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 7,280 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 1.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $123.77. 2,021,222 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,696,255. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.24. The company has a market cap of $88.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. 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.