Procyon Advisors LLC Has $519,000 Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Procyon Advisors LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 72.0%, selling 8,938 shares and leaving them with only 3,470 shares valued at approximately $519,000.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, leading to an annual yield of 2.2%.
• Major institutional investors, including Vanguard and Goldman Sachs, have adjusted their positions in Blackstone, with Vanguard increasing its stake by 1.6% in the first quarter.

Procyon Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 72.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,470 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,938 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $187.90. The stock had a trading volume of 582,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,155,314. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight 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 $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.