Ossiam Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ossiam lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 81.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 188,768 shares during the period. Ossiam’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,530 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,628,000 after purchasing an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Blackstone by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 5,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $245,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.56.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $2.43 on Thursday, hitting $140.06. 4,412,690 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,558,848. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.09 billion, a PE ratio of 49.49, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $145.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.86.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business’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 $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 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.