Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Position Boosted by Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Guyasuta Investment Advisors increased its Blackstone stake by 200% in the first quarter, buying 9,000 additional shares to own 13,500 shares valued at about $1.55 million.
• Institutional interest in Blackstone remains high, with hedge funds and other investors owning about 70% of the company. Meanwhile, analysts currently assign the stock a Moderate Buy rating with an average target price of $150.86.
• Blackstone recently beat quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $1.36 versus the $1.34 estimate, though revenue came in slightly below forecast. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share, equal to a 3.9% annualized yield.

Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 200.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,500 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Trivium Point Advisory LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management raised its position in Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. HSBC cut their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $150.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 9,487,234 shares of company stock worth $189,789,892 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $120.12 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average is $121.33 and its 200-day moving average is $129.86. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $89.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

About Blackstone

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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