Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Holdings Lifted by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 81.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 367,766 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 165,003 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $42,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 2nd 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.86.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $120.12 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.86. The company has a market cap of $89.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased 9,487,234 shares of company stock valued at $189,789,892 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

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.