Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $4.51 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,417 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,598 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Argus upped their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TheStreet downgraded Blackstone from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $124.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,517,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,777,703. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.83, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.28 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 16,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,851 shares of company stock valued at $357,137. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone 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.