Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 485 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bay Rivers Group raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the first quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 15,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,047,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $124.24 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 2.67%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

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.