Israel Discount Bank of New York Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Israel Discount Bank of New York trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the quarter. Israel Discount Bank of New York’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 39,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on BX. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $2.12 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $120.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,418,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,657,278. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $86.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.