SOL Capital Management CO Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SOL Capital Management CO grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,927 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 1.5% of SOL Capital Management CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $123,508,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $143.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.16. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.