Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 712 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sage Rhino Capital LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 1.0% in the second quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 3.7% in the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

BX stock opened at $175.40 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.01. The firm has a market cap of $129.29 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Company 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.