Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Sells 2,900 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $141.01 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.21. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 4.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.