Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Holdings Increased by Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 61.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,361 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 11,937 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $124.46 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $92.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $119.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.