Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Holdings Lowered by Flputnam Investment Management Co.

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.92.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:BX opened at $123.19 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $126.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $88.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.