Stratos Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Stratos Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,124 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE BX opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $126.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $163.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone 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.