LGT Capital Partners LTD. Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 197,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,500 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.3% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $34,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,355,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,438 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,670,000 after acquiring an additional 3,762 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after acquiring an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,274,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

BX opened at $145.12 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $169.33 and its 200-day moving average is $167.00. The company has a market capitalization of $105.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a P/E/G 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, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. 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. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by 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.