MFA Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 82.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 454 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,101 shares during the quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $56,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4 %

Blackstone stock traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $134.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,945,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,506,645. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $130.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.61. 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 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $145.16. The company has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, 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 note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.65.

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.