Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Sells 372 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 372 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone 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 transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BX. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $121.53. 3,233,853 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,682,961. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.05 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a PE ratio of 42.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $124.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.69 billion during 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 revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

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.