Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,756 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,803 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 3.5% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 9.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in Blackstone by 14.7% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $118.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.37.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone 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.