Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Renaissance Investment Group LLC

Renaissance Investment Group LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,159 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 58,777 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,277,000 after buying an additional 2,002 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,254,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $155,288,000 after purchasing an additional 142,026 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 11,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 100.5% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,119 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,253,000 after buying an additional 5,072 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:BX opened at $180.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $180.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.24. 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 stock has a market cap of $129.96 billion, a PE ratio of 61.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.56.

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.