W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Trims Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 190.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,238,000 after buying an additional 4,708 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $416,000. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 4,151 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $716,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in Blackstone by 316.9% during the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 87,822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,142,000 after purchasing an additional 66,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $472,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued 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.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business’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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $158.21 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.74. The stock has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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 anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Blackstone’s payout ratio 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.