Sabal Trust CO Decreases Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sabal Trust CO reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 71.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,891 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,704 shares during the quarter. Sabal Trust CO's holdings in Blackstone were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $148.15 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $138.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $108.10 billion, a PE ratio of 44.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 112.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.65.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.