Boltwood Capital Management Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Boltwood Capital Management lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.6% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 263,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after buying an additional 6,675 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 250,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,970,000 after acquiring an additional 20,174 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 108,667 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,453,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 5.5% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 42,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $175.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 512,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,484,699. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.88 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.31. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $126.96 billion, a PE ratio of 60.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

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.