Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade 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 Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:BX opened at $138.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $100.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.