Jump Financial LLC Sells 3,127 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jump Financial LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 55.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,511 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,127 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $974,448,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,464,000 after purchasing an additional 113,732 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $154.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $133.61. The company had a trading volume of 3,608,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,763,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $141.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.19. The stock has a market cap of $97.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Blackstone Profile

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.