Argent Capital Management LLC Has $79.44 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Argent Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 606,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,615 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 2.6% of Argent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Argent Capital Management LLC owned 0.09% of Blackstone worth $79,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $708,859,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $290,514,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price target 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. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $4.37 on Wednesday, hitting $123.38. The stock had a trading volume of 3,754,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,583,351. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.40 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid 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 2.69%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.