Annex Advisory Services LLC Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Annex Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 76.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22,194 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after acquiring an additional 28,856 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.8% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,649,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after acquiring an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.56.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $130.93. 1,416,063 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,543,412. The firm has a market cap of $93.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.27, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

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.