Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Lowered by Legacy Capital Group California Inc.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 144,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,170,000 after buying an additional 48,601 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 4,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Blackstone by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 47.7% in the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,147,000 after buying an additional 8,749 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8 %

BX stock opened at $163.83 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $118.28 billion, a PE ratio of 45.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.03.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

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.