Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Partners Group Holding AG

Partners Group Holding AG lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 267,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 74,796 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.6% of Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $46,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,067,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,130,000 after acquiring an additional 117,354 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management raised its stake in Blackstone by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,974 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 77.9% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 13,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,362,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $148.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $108.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, 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 quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.28. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

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.