Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Decreases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.3 %

BX stock opened at $139.89 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a PE ratio of 38.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $160.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Company 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.