Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Sargent Investment Group LLC

Sargent Investment Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 2.2% of Sargent Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after acquiring an additional 7,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after acquiring an additional 34,872 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $154.58 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $155.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

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.