Sierra Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sierra Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,277 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,738 shares during the period. Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $153.05 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $141.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its 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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the purchase, the director owned 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.