Thomas Story & Son LLC Sells 125 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Thomas Story & Son LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up 1.8% of Thomas Story & Son LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Thomas Story & Son LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Investmark Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their target price 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $170.11 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market capitalization of $122.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.62.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 94.77%.

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.