Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 128,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,981 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $1.71 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $119.79. 2,918,918 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,674,363. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $124.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.45. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.05 and a twelve month high of $133.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 and sold 2,587,168 shares worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.65.

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.