Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Buys 104 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $136.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

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.