Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Holdings Cut by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,200 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:BX traded down $3.23 on Tuesday, reaching $160.13. The stock had a trading volume of 3,967,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,882,335. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $144.75 and a 200 day moving average of $150.62. The stock has a market cap of $116.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $137.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America lowered their price target 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 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $162.18.

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.