Choreo LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 124.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,790 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th 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. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 39,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $116.60 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.33 billion, a PE ratio of 41.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.