Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 3,842 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 67.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,842 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 327.1% in the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 252 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.25.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4 %

Blackstone stock opened at $126.09 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.57. The company has a market cap of $90.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.29 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.