Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by LM Advisors LLC

LM Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. LM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $631,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in Blackstone by 260.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 8,305 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,272,000 after buying an additional 5,998 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $271,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.9 %

BX opened at $146.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.05 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $162.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.54.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.