Artemis Investment Management LLP Sells 370,308 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 54.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 307,254 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 370,308 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $40,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

BX stock traded down $0.32 on Friday, hitting $123.80. 3,979,394 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,490,933. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $88.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

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.