First United Bank & Trust Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

First United Bank & Trust cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 565 shares during the quarter. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $136.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % 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 Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $156.35 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $161.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $144.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.48. The company has a market cap of $111.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.25, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

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.