Versant Capital Management Inc Has $446,000 Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,586 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 7.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,823 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 5.8% during the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.3% in the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,284 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $173.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $125.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.48. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.