Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 400 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,719 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $121.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.22, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.50. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer lowered Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.92.

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.