Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,445,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,429 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $249,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,577,000 after acquiring an additional 835,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $132.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $141.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.98.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

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.