LGT Capital Partners LTD. Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 29.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 235,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100,000 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $30,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its position in Blackstone by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the period. United Bank increased its holdings in Blackstone by 34.2% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 2,153 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Insight Advisors LLC PA increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,341,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its position in Blackstone by 12.8% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.53.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $131.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.89 billion, a PE ratio of 71.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $125.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.00. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.29 and a twelve month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.