Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Forte Capital LLC ADV

Forte Capital LLC ADV cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 877 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,102,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $163.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.03. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $118.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.