Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 521 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 48,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th 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 position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $144.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.38. The company has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. 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 (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 3.98%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of 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 research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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 research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone 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.