Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,829 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $148.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $108.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $163.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.08.

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, 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.