Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Register Financial Advisors LLC

Register Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 982 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 1.7% of Register Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Register Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 89,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,701,000 after acquiring an additional 13,360 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 11,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,575,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $649,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 23,221 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,051,000 after buying an additional 2,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,231 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the firm’s 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 acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $123.80. The company had a trading volume of 3,979,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,490,933. The company has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $122.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.31%.

Blackstone 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.