Brown Financial Advisors Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Brown Financial Advisors cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 926 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.7 %

BX opened at $157.27 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $172.96 and a 200-day moving average of $165.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus 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.