Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $519,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $887,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $123.19 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.04 billion, a PE ratio of 67.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.64.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.