Scotia Capital Inc. Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Scotia Capital Inc. lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,745 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,871 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $139,302,000 after buying an additional 51,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 7.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $127.06 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $149.98 and a 200 day moving average of $165.80. The firm has a market cap of $92.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS 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 fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. 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. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. 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 research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.22.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.