Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,390,656 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,613,932 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $757,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.68 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.24 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.06.

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.