Gagnon Securities LLC Sells 348 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gagnon Securities LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,011 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 348 shares during the quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 123.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 10,952 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 83.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 4,220 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 146,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,462,000 after acquiring an additional 10,504 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13.8% in the third quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 7,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Single Point Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $214,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $176.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.80, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.95. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price target on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.