Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. Sells 403 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 403 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises approximately 11.4% of Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $3,217,000. Coordinated Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $735,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 4,474 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Blackstone by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,430,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $248,723,000 after purchasing an additional 483,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,848 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $145.12 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 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.00. The stock has a market cap of $105.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Blackstone Company 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.