Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Cuts Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,681 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,300 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Moseley Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Bay Rivers Group boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in Blackstone by 1.9% during the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4 %

BX traded up $1.80 on Wednesday, reaching $134.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,945,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,506,645. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $130.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.61. The company has a market capitalization of $96.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its 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 business 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 revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.