CX Institutional Sells 153 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

CX Institutional lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,293 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $136.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.85. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly 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 firm 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

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.