New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 9,818 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 96,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,818 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,017,000 after purchasing an additional 61,739 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after buying an additional 116,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $159.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.07. The company has a market capitalization of $114.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.87, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.