West Paces Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 716 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $94,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 39,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,194,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $121.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $126.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.60. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.92.

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.