Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Sage Rhino Capital LLC

Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,891 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,292,000 after buying an additional 92,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $4.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.60. 4,328,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,235. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $125.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on BX. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

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.