WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 979 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 122,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 979 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $18,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $3.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $140.81. The company had a trading volume of 429,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,466. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $164.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $103.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price target on shares of Blackstone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 2,565,141 shares of company stock valued at $68,991,351 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.