Procyon Advisors LLC Has $1.73 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Procyon Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 24,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 6,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $285,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $140.42 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $135.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.65. The firm has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.