Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 50.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,787 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 0.7% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.0%

BX stock opened at $156.37 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $171.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $115.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.26.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.