Nwam LLC Cuts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Nwam LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BX shares. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $157.52 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $171.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.01. The company has a market capitalization of $113.73 billion, a PE ratio of 43.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Blackstone 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.