Schwab Charitable Fund Sells 475 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Schwab Charitable Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,925 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Schwab Charitable Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth 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. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.56.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded down $3.98 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.05. 4,695,832 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,029,145. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $145.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.64. The company has a market cap of $95.08 billion, a PE ratio of 47.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider Joseph Baratta 4,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.