Mackenzie Financial Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mackenzie Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 182,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $23,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 56.1% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.2% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its position in Blackstone by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,878,000 after buying an additional 4,366 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $123.19 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $126.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

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.