First County Bank CT Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

First County Bank CT decreased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,185 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.0 %

Blackstone stock traded down $3.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $171.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,727,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,951. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $123.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.85, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $180.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current 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 $0.86 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

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.