Gradient Capital Advisors LLC Sells 104 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 104 shares during the period. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $164.80 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.98 billion, a PE ratio of 45.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $177.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.00.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BX. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

About Blackstone

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.