Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $849,000 Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 111 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Blackstone by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Blackstone by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,348,000 after purchasing an additional 15,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $124.20 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $122.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.35. The firm has a market cap of $88.76 billion, a PE ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus lifted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.