Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC Sells 97,615 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by selling 97,615 shares, representing a 95.7% decrease in holdings, leaving them with only 4,369 shares valued at approximately $601,000.
• Blackstone reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $1.21, exceeding analysts' expectations, and a year-over-year revenue increase of 32.7% to $3.07 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, representing a positive increase from the previous dividend, with a current dividend yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 95.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,369 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 97,615 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 2.3% of Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $1,747,000. Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% in the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $794,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $171.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.47 billion, a PE ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $165.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone 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.

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