Sculati Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sculati Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 26,111 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 874 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.5% of Sculati Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Sculati Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.00.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 2,565,543 shares of company stock worth $69,050,139 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $141.46 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $163.12 and its 200 day moving average is $157.60. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $104.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.