Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Holdings Lessened by Argent Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management cut its Blackstone holdings by 99.2% in the first quarter, selling 523,506 shares and retaining 4,172 shares valued at approximately $480,000. Institutional investors collectively own 70% of Blackstone’s stock.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 13 Buy ratings and 11 Holds. Blackstone has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $147.95, above its recent price of $128.18.
• Blackstone exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.52 in EPS and $5.04 billion in revenue, while year-over-year revenue rose 35.9%. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.29 per share, implying a 4.0% annual yield.

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 99.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,172 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 523,506 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. HSBC reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 573,614 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at $221,118,071.70. This trade represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased a total of 10,825,959 shares of company stock valued at $224,789,900 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $128.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $121.67 and a 200-day moving average of $123.87. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $95.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 103.80%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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