Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE Sells 495 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 45.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 584 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 214.2% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 6.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.68 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.24 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.20.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 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%. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.06.

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.