Ieq Capital LLC Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ieq Capital LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 236,421 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,392 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $40,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $602,017,000 after purchasing an additional 61,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after purchasing an additional 116,367 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE BX opened at $166.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $120.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.04. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.