OLD National Bancorp IN Sells 1,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

OLD National Bancorp IN lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $190,920,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.94.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the 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 directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $124.22 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.20. The company has a market cap of $88.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. 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 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

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.