First National Trust Co Has $1.14 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

First National Trust Co increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,721 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Provence Wealth Management Group grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 466.0% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $721,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,704 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,769,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,692 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $117.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,437,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,497,968. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $125.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.