Bard Financial Services Inc. Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bard Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,625 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 263,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after acquiring an additional 6,675 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 250,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,970,000 after purchasing an additional 20,174 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% during the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 108,667 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,453,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 42,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,229,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.24. The stock had a trading volume of 924,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,621,779. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $180.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.31. The firm has a market cap of $127.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.88 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

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.