The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 101,575 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 833,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 101,575 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.12% of Blackstone worth $143,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $133.61 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $97.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.82.

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.