Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Boosted by Parkside Financial Bank & Trust

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BX. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake in Blackstone by 7.0% during the third quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 121,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,002,000 after acquiring an additional 7,907 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake 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 worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 15,875 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $2,314,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1,722.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,046,000 after purchasing an additional 476,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded up $2.68 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $124.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,844,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,696,608. The firm has a market cap of $89.17 billion, a PE ratio of 43.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.06.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 132.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.