Nwam LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Nwam LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BX opened at $157.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $113.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.