City State Bank Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

City State Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,372 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 375 shares during the quarter. City State Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $140.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $135.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BX. UBS Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

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.