Royal Fund Management LLC Has $5.97 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Royal Fund Management LLC trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,597 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,735 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $654,292,000 after buying an additional 92,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $117.99. 4,437,459 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,497,968. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $125.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.06. The stock has a market cap of $84.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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

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.