Centennial Bank AR Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Centennial Bank AR reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 880 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 326 shares during the period. Centennial Bank AR’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $151.88 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $108.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $161.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $141.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.86.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.