Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV Cuts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,454 shares during the quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX traded down $3.71 on Thursday, reaching $119.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,784,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,695,160. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.32, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

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.