Covenant Asset Management LLC Sells 521 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Covenant Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $194.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $164.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.22 billion, a PE ratio of 66.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.51 and a 12-month high of $194.64.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.