B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,905 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,567 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up about 1.5% of B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after buying an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE BX traded down $3.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $160.13. 3,967,719 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,884,785. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company's 50-day moving average is $144.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.55. The company has a market capitalization of $116.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $137.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $162.18.

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.