American Trust Invests $217,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

American Trust acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,261 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 520.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:BX opened at $136.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $136.75 and a 200 day moving average of $160.04. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Profile

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.