Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,220 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.26.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $156.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.03, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $171.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.82. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. 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%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

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.