B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 323 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Blackstone by 28.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 270,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,452,000 after acquiring an additional 60,700 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.6% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 769,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $117,894,000 after buying an additional 79,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 268.6% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,674,000 after acquiring an additional 12,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. 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 note on Monday, December 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $139.89 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $160.06 and a 200 day moving average of $167.67. The firm has a market cap of $102.04 billion, a PE ratio of 38.54, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders 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 an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.