Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14,100 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after buying an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $855,000. Chicago Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $2,314,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Blackstone by 1,722.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,046,000 after purchasing an additional 476,768 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of BX stock traded up $1.61 during trading on Thursday, hitting $121.41. 691,933 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,639,782. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $124.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.28 and a 52-week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.