Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 3,173 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 14.9%, retaining 18,129 shares worth approximately $2.53 million at the end of the reporting period.
• Analyst ratings for Blackstone show a mixed outlook, with price targets ranging from $147.00 to $181.00 and a consensus rating of "Hold".
• Blackstone announced an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, representing a 2.32% dividend yield.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 14.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,129 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,173 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $2.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $172.95. 1,483,211 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,279,198. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $151.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.19 billion, a PE ratio of 46.47, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

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.