Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 730,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,975 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $126,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price 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. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $147.80 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $158.58 and a 200-day moving average of $167.47. The firm has a market cap of $107.81 billion, a PE ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

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.