Truist Financial Corp Sells 897 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Truist Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 213,637 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 897 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $29,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,873,000 after buying an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $515,577,000 after acquiring an additional 835,170 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $155.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $113.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The business’s 50 day moving average is $141.20 and its 200-day moving average is $151.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% 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.

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.