Arax Advisory Partners Sells 7,139 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Arax Advisory Partners trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,198 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,139 shares during the quarter. Arax Advisory Partners’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $122.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $119.98 and a 200-day moving average of $130.96. The stock has a market cap of $91.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.