Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by First Interstate Bank

First Interstate Bank reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,576 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 415 shares during the period. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after buying an additional 522,561 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.89. 3,539,796 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,671,344. The company has a market cap of $87.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.22, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 205.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BX. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.92.

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.