Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,570 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $279,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,629,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 201,758 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,787,000 after buying an additional 10,641 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its position in Blackstone by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 267,295 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,087,000 after acquiring an additional 36,946 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $170.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $124.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.