Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $236,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 7,963 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,087 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,259,000 after purchasing an additional 5,278 shares during the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 55,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,263,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $1.70 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $119.80. 2,896,994 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,674,129. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.05 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company 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.