Spire Wealth Management Has $3.66 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Spire Wealth Management cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 366 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $667,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.71. The stock had a trading volume of 433,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,651,125. The company has a 50 day moving average of $125.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.05 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $86.98 billion, a PE ratio of 42.83, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on BX shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. 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. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.