West Paces Advisors Inc. Sells 184 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

West Paces Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 716 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $94,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 5,190 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $707,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.92.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.6 %

Blackstone stock opened at $121.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $87.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.60, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $126.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.60. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

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.