Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,754 shares during the quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,790,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $160.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $115.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 94.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.