Nilsine Partners LLC Has $302,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Nilsine Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,244,379,000 after acquiring an additional 880,745 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,417,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,581 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $841,783,000 after purchasing an additional 322,860 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Argus raised their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $4.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $116.60. 4,328,759 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,235. 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 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $83.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $125.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was 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 this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.