RWA Wealth Partners LLC Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 116.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,409 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 5,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in Blackstone by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 25,296 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Telemus Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 82,423 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1,200.0% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.94.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:BX opened at $124.22 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.30 and a 200-day moving average of $118.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Blackstone Company 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.