Boltwood Capital Management Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Boltwood Capital Management lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.7% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 263,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after purchasing an additional 6,675 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 250,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,970,000 after buying an additional 20,174 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 108,667 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,453,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 42,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $175.84. The company had a trading volume of 512,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,484,699. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.31.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. 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 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

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.