Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Position Lessened by Facet Wealth Inc.

Facet Wealth Inc. decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Facet Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Blackstone by 136.4% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Blackstone by 87.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 166,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,482,000 after buying an additional 77,537 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,359,000 after buying an additional 1,433 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 172,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,395,000 after purchasing an additional 9,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.3 %

BX opened at $141.01 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.02. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. 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 firm has a market cap of $102.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, 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 accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.