Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Sells 2,526 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 34.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,526 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $137.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.08. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by 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.