Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Buys Shares of 13,640 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,640 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,786,000. Blackstone accounts for 1.6% of Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,952 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 125,754 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 182,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,842,000 after purchasing an additional 47,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 49.4% during the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 2,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.4 %

Blackstone stock traded down $1.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,896,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,674,129. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $124.96 and its 200-day moving average is $119.45. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.05 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.