Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Sells 4,787 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 50.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,787 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 0.7% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 388,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $58,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 74,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,130,000 after buying an additional 2,858 shares during the period. Koa Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,567,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 16,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,404,000 after buying an additional 3,084 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,897,000 after buying an additional 860 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $156.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $115.26 billion, a PE ratio of 42.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $171.66 and a 200-day moving average of $154.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BX. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.26.

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.