Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Sells 598 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,578 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 598 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 111.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,472,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15,294.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 236,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,208,000 after purchasing an additional 234,917 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen equities research 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $159.26 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $114.99 billion, a PE ratio of 43.87, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $172.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.