Federated Hermes Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,782 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,046 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase 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. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $117.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $84.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.85. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business 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 company’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 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 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.