NBT Bank N A NY Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

NBT Bank N A NY trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 74.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,820 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,287 shares during the quarter. NBT Bank N A NY's holdings in Blackstone were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $123,508,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $137.28 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $100.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.82 and a 200-day moving average of $154.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $155.65.

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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