Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. McAdam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 32,557 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,985,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 2,413 shares during the period. Finally, Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $158.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $173.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.48.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

About Blackstone

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.