Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 70,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,618 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $697,464,000 after buying an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after acquiring an additional 116,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.26. The company has a market capitalization of $107.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade 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 is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.