CenterBook Partners LP Sells 10,587 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

CenterBook Partners LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,884 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,587 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Blackstone by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 180,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,476,000 after purchasing an additional 9,249 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 147,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,002,000 after buying an additional 4,132 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.76.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $133.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $98.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $148.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.14. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 153.61%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.