Truist Financial Corp Sells 4,615 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Truist Financial Corp reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 2.2%, selling 4,615 shares to end the second quarter with 209,022 shares valued at approximately $31.27 million.
• Wall Street analysts show optimism for Blackstone, with price targets raised by firms like Barclays and Deutsche Bank, indicating a consensus target price of $172.71 and a "moderate buy" rating.
• Blackstone recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, reflecting a strong dividend yield of 2.5% despite a high dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Truist Financial Corp lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 209,022 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,615 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Blackstone were worth $31,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $423,000. BCU Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $583,000. First United Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.5% during the second quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 12,715 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 8,244 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 33,457 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,005,000 after buying an additional 1,788 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $166.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $122.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.77. The business's 50 day moving average price is $174.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

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.

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