Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 83,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,332 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $1.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $122.38. 1,479,660 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,667,875. 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 twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $126.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.24. The company has a market capitalization of $87.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.