Spire Wealth Management Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Spire Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,914 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of BX opened at $176.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

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.