Vinva Investment Management Ltd Sells 12,836 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 43.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,947 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,836 shares during the quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $149.69 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week 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 50-day simple moving average of $164.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.16. The company has a market cap of $109.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.