Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Increased by Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,001 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 12,232 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. Canton Hathaway LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 17,152 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,972,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Cane Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $724,000. Essex LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. Essex LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659 shares during the last quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Blackstone by 5.1% during the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 123,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,242,000 after acquiring an additional 6,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Blackstone by 4.0% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 143,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,537 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders purchased a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Argus reduced their target price on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.36.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $119.55 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $88.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.26. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.67%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.