Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14,100 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 128,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,774,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981 shares in the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,817,000. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,786,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $236,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 7,963 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now 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 dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders have acquired a total of 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $1.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $121.41. The company had a trading volume of 691,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,639,782. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.28 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $124.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.45. The company has a market capitalization of $86.77 billion, a PE ratio of 42.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s 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.