Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Sfmg LLC

Sfmg LLC cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,431 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moseley Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 439 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $157.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $112.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.69, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $161.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $140.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.86.

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). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.78.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

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.