Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Has $1.60 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 0.7% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 11,638 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 35,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,830,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 5,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,975 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $131.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $93.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.79, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.00. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.29 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.53.

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.