Dearborn Partners LLC Sells 800 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Dearborn Partners LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen investment 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $139.24 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.36, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 50-day simple moving average is $168.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.26.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. 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. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.