Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Sells 9,480 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,966 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,480 shares during the period. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after purchasing an additional 512,165 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $67,472,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $170.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $123.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.15 and a 200 day moving average of $162.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.