Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) by 33.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,666 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,807 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Blackstone by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 745,352 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $96,441,000 after buying an additional 140,228 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,063 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,206,709 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $156,136,000 after buying an additional 93,283 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 47.3% during the 4th quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. 61.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 7,200 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total transaction of $235,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 862,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,196,304. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 71,223 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.95, for a total value of $6,691,400.85. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,141,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $107,287,611.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 7,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total value of $235,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 862,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,196,304. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 161,423 shares of company stock valued at $9,660,717. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4 %

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 21st. The asset manager reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 22.48%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 96.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 1st were paid a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 29th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 92.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone to $102.00 in a research note on Friday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $120.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $131.33.

About Blackstone

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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.

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