Barr E S & Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Barr E S & Co. trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 526,199 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,778 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 5.4% of Barr E S & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Barr E S & Co. owned 0.07% of Blackstone worth $90,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying 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 about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BX opened at $127.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $92.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.63.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.22.

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.